Competition in Learning

Competition is an integral part of our everyday life. It is not something that is only seen in the sports arena. In our society, we also compete for the best colleges and the best jobs. While competition may be all around us, it has been the subject of debate as to its place in our educational system. Does it affect learning in a positive or negative way? Overall, the overwhelming benefits of competition in the learning environment are clear. Competition not only acts as a motivator to learn and achieve higher goals but is also serves as a crucial tool for preparing our nation’s children for the competitive workforce that they will eventually find themselves in when they are grown and on their own.
In an academic environment, competition helps to motivate students. Interactions between peers greatly influence the amount of effort students put into their school work. If a student is competitive with their peers to receive the highest grade, they have increased motivation to work at a higher level than before. In Márta Fülöp's paper, "Competition in Educational Settings”, she describes a situation in which students are motivated by competition. "If for instance a pupil wants to know a foreign language better than his/her classmates, it is not the case that whenever he/she learns a new word of English there is one less for the others to learn. In fact if we conceive school as a place where students increase their knowledge about the world then school is the very place where competition is essentially for an infinite good, namely knowledge" . From this quote, one can see that Fülöp endorses the argument that competition helps to motivate students. In the article "Competition and Happiness”, author Theodore Isaac Rubin describes a learning environment he encountered in Switzerland. In the Swiss medical school he attended, it was a non-competitive environment where students only requirement for graduation was to pass a final exam every semester. There were no curves, and no other requirements. For American students placed in this non-competitive environment, there was absolutely no motivation. Therefore American students, "formed competitive cliques" (https://diigo.com/0757l1). In this case, the American students used competition to motivate themselves in the Swiss learning environment.
Another benefit of competition, is that it prepares learners for the “real world”. As an adult, competition is an intrinsic part of daily life. When applying for college, students face the competitive world of who has the best scores, best essays, and best extra-curricular activities. When applying for a job, the best, most competitive applicant will receive the job. If students are not prepared for this competitive environment, they will have difficulty functioning as an adult. Márta Fülöp explains, “It is highly important therefore that teachers in schools have a clear understanding about it, be able to handle and influence competitive processes and prepare students for competitions in life and teach them how to compete while keeping themselves to implicit and explicit rules of competition and how to cope with the emotional consequences of competition [sic]” (https://diigo.com/0757ks). When explained this way, not only does it seem important that pupils encounter competition in their learning environment but likewise it is vital to their future success. If the goal of education is to prepare children for what they will face in the real world, how can competition not be a part of their curriculum?
Opponents to the argument that competition plays a beneficial role in the learning process would like to persuade us that competition is detrimental. As Theodore Isaac Rubin argues in his article, “Competition…provides a stressful, isolating and paranoid atmosphere that is the very antithesis of peace of mind." Competition can be damaging if students do not know how to handle it. Inasmuch as it is a part of the world they are headed into, shouldn’t students know how to handle the pressures that go along with it? If students are taught from a young age how to use competition to motivate themselves it will not have such negative effects. Many studies that delve into the effects of competition on learning environments compare competition with cooperation. They claim that cooperation is superior to competition when it comes to positive effects on the learning process. In their article, Sharon Nichols and Jeremy Sullivan argue, “Thus, when it comes to small group formats, activities that promote cooperation are generally more beneficial socially, motivationally, and academically than competitive ones." In rebuttal to this, Márta Fülöp points out in her paper, “Another highly problematic characteristic of the research on competition is that competition and cooperation have been conceptualized as two extremes of a single [behavioral] dimension or polar opposites." Márta Fülöp explains that competition and cooperation should not be compared. Therefore, research comparing competition and cooperation is not reliable.
Competition is a driving force in our society and as such is beneficial in academic environments. It motivates students to do their best work and prepares them for the competitive environment they will face as adults. Moreover, competition has a necessary place in our schools. If schools do not prepare students for the competition of job markets and college applications, then they will not have learned everything they need to excel as adults. Not only does competition help prepare students but it is a driving force which inspires them to work harder to reach their goals.