> Something as simple as undoing the participation trophy culture we've created would go a long way.
My now-dated recollection is that most kids had no problem recognizing "participation" trophies as substandard and lacking prestige. Everybody--including the recipient--knew it wasn't a real win. They were something you sheepishly accepted hoping that you could minimize your time in the spotlight and that peers wouldn't somehow tease you for it.
So, hypothesis: Participation trophies exist because of by pressure from parents. Either as a way for teachers/kids to mollify parents who want to see their child "win", or else parents who think they can trick their child into motivation.
With that framing--cynical kids and mistaken adults--the "participation trophy culture" has wildly different problems and solutions.
I think it's a Chesterton's Fence thing -- nobody remembers why we give out participation trophies, so we continue giving them out. Their importance is overblown. Nobody is fooled.
I remember my daughter came home with a ribbon, and I asked her what it was for. She said: "Oh, it's just one of those ribbons that you get for participating."
We signed her up for kids' soccer. It was a league where they didn't keep score. Yet the kids knew exactly what the score was after each game, and who the best players were.
I remember as a kid that my motivation came from things where I could measure my own performance, such as getting through a math problem, or playing pieces on the cello, of escalating difficulty.
My now-dated recollection is that most kids had no problem recognizing "participation" trophies as substandard and lacking prestige. Everybody--including the recipient--knew it wasn't a real win. They were something you sheepishly accepted hoping that you could minimize your time in the spotlight and that peers wouldn't somehow tease you for it.
So, hypothesis: Participation trophies exist because of by pressure from parents. Either as a way for teachers/kids to mollify parents who want to see their child "win", or else parents who think they can trick their child into motivation.
With that framing--cynical kids and mistaken adults--the "participation trophy culture" has wildly different problems and solutions.