Competition: a negative force in education?
By Fred McArdle
[This article was written when I was a lecturer in a teacher education course, and before we undertook home education. It still makes sense to me].
Competition is normally interpreted as competing in some sort of race to win, usually for self-centred reasons and to “prove” something.
Climbing a mountain or going bushwalking, on the other hand, is working together with somebody to see the scenery and to feel the achievement, to smell the scents, to breathe the air, and to present oneself with a challenge, to stretch one’s horizons. The walking or climbing is most often done in a group, where each member has the duty to support each other member, and each has the right to expect to be supported in the challenging environment, so that in the end all members have achieved and can enjoy the view with a sense of satisfaction and joy.
There is no way of knowing whether the mountain-climber or the runner is fitter or stronger, unless they enter into direct competition, which they almost certainly will not do.
Rarely would one member of a mountain-climbing or bushwalking group say, “Look, I beat you. I’m obviously superior to you.” Rather, the people who have climbed the mountain are more likely to embrace and congratulate each other, and share the joy of the moment and the achievement; they will exclaim upon the beauty of the scenery, the steepness of the climb they have all just made. The bushwalkers will probably sit down and share a drink together and share the moment in their own way.
Rarely would they stop at the end of the climb or the walk and work out how to rank the performance of the participants. Rather, they would celebrate the achievement of all the members of the group, and the fact that they all arrived safe and sound and in a fit state to celebrate, and they would look around, to see what beautiful sights there are to be seen in this world.