Serious question here – There is a new trend in youth sports leagues of giving all participants a trophy. Do?
you believe that more liberals or conservatives support that idea? Or do you believe that there is no correlation between political beliefs and such practices?
For the record, I think that only the winning team (or person, depending on the sport) should get a trophy. The problem with our society is that everyone these days is raised to believe that they will always win. Sorry.
We should be teaching kids that it’s ok to fail, but it is NOT ok to quit trying.
I have a young son and from my experience with people in our lives I’d say that most people who feel this way are also people I know to be mostly liberal in their other beliefs. I don’t actually know a person who follows a hard conservative or hard liberal line about every single thing they believe.
I do believe, however, that both ideologies appeal to general trends in personality. We all follow beliefs to their logical (or illogical) ends, so it makes sense that the stereotype would mostly (not always) hold true.
Something interesting that I realized when I was contemplating why people would want to reward win and lose the same was that, as a culture, we are afraid of feelings. For the most part we seem incapable or unwilling to deal with anger, sadness, frustration, and even often happiness and joy. To avoid having to deal with these emotions and develop self esteem naturally we teach kids how to get around the whole ugly mess–which is consequently, our lives.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Only a liberal could come up with a stupid idea like that!
We all know they don’t believe in competition but rather in trophy distribution.
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February 24th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
There is NO way of determining which party supports that idea more or less.
This liberal thinks that children should be rewarded based on merit, not just participation. For participation, daddy and/or mommy can simply congratulate little Bobby for playing his hardest, etc.
On a related note, WHAT THE Heck is up with parents celebrating their child’s birthday and providing ‘presents’/gift bags for ALL of the other children in attendence?? This liberal also thinks that it is OK for parents and other children to simply celebrate the birthdate of the child in question, and not ‘reward’ the other children until they have their own birthdays.
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February 24th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Liberals- Everything needs to be fair, no one gets their feelings hurt.
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February 24th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Its not new. I don’t think its a matter of political affiliation. You see it all across the country. Every participant has to be made to feel "important" and like a "winner"…even if you lost. I think it is more generational.
It is not just sports either. I saw this at my nephew’s middle school graduation. It was TOO annoying.
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February 24th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I think that more liberals would support something along those lines.
It raises kids’ expectations and they learn that no matter how poorly they do, they still "achieve" something and learn that it is ok to fail.
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February 24th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
In no way is that a new trend and it has been happening for, oh, about 20 years.
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February 24th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Oh, that is a liberal idea for sure. I think it is ridiculous.
Look up John Rosemond. Oh, it is a liberal idea alright.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/22/rosemond-60s-pschyobabble-hinders-parenting/
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February 24th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Liberal, most definitely, because everything has to be fair in their little minds
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February 24th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
It’s probably done to motivate which is good but the winners should stand out by having bigger trophies or such
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February 24th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
I keep hearing about this.. But one of my daughters plays traveling basketball and they get nothing outside of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place..
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February 24th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I think giving everyone a trophy even if they didn’t win totally misses the point of trophies in the first place.
I think it makes kids think they are going to get a prize every time in life, even if they do a mediocre ob.
I don’t really think this is a party defining issue.
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February 24th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I agree. With you and Bash.
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February 24th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
A trophy for last place should be a real ego builder.
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February 24th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
There is a trend to eliminate any form of competition.
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February 25th, 2010 at 12:34 am
Only overly protective parents could come up with that idea. "O it’s ok that you suck son you got a trophy."
I play lacrosse and we never get trophies or medals for anything worse than 3rd place.
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liberal
February 25th, 2010 at 1:10 am
I think the practice was initiated by those wishing to discourage competition among children. I believe that it is misguided. We ought to raise children in such a way that they develop into adults in a way that suits their nature and the practical realities of adult life. Some children thrive on competition; others are more oriented toward cooperation. Why not accommodate both? However, a reality of adult life, at least in this society, is that one must compete in order to shrive in the work world. It is irresponsible to raise kids not to expect competition and then toss them into an adult world which demands it.
As to your question, liberals more likely support the idea. They tend to emphasize collective action and responsibility to a greater degree than conservatives, and individualism to a lesser degree. Liberal ideas do have some merit.
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February 25th, 2010 at 1:26 am
It’s political correctness to the extreme. Everyone is supposed to good and no one is to be left out. The MVP gets a trophy but so do the bench warmers. Where is the incentive to work harder or do better?
Now, we have graduation ceremonies for five year olds, then elementary school. So what? Graduation from high school is just another graduation now.
I agree that it’s okay to fail, and sometimes one has to fail. It’s the only way to learn, and there’s really nothing wrong with failing– if one learns a lesson from it. It’s a necessary part of life and something we will deal with one way or another, unless we stay home and never try or do anything.
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February 25th, 2010 at 2:13 am
I remember when my son was 6 and got a soccer trophy. He quipped, "Dad, why did I get a trophy? We didn’t win."
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February 25th, 2010 at 2:47 am
I think this comes from liberals. I believe there should be a winner and a loser. Competition and team work are good things to teach. Just because little Billy was on the losing team and didn’t get a trophy, his teams parents should be out working harder with their kids so they do better next time. You can not always win!
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February 25th, 2010 at 3:07 am
Is this really new? I think that this occurred when I was a kid and I’m 42.
I think it’s a notion fostered by parents, actually, and might not be politically motivated at all. Some people just think that teaching a little kid to enjoy sports might help him or her later in life, and that there is plenty of time and opportunity for development of excellence.
I had my son in baseball starting when he was in diapers. He hated it. I had to drag him out there. He always got stuck in the outfield picking daisies. He got constantly yelled at by the coaches, even though there was nothing out there but grass to pick and he had fun picking it. He was a good hitter, though. And you know what? I’m hoping it keeps him off drugs when he’s a teen. Life isn’t all about winning a game.
And how many of the very best of the best kids will have a career in professional sports? And how many kids have sports helped where the kids didn’t stand a snow-ball’s chance in even high school competition? We don’t know unless we give all the kids a chance to play. And we can’t do that unless they have fun in the process. It’s just common sense. Rewarding positive behavior is not a liberal concept. It’s a conservative one. Kids getting outside and playing, instead of sitting in front of the tube is a positive concept.
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We give all the little kids trophies. They earn them just for putting up with the coaches and the coaches’ kids. And these trophies are bought and paid for by the parents who pay the fees so their kids can play these sports, so who should decide this? The people paying, that’s who.
And if you’re still not convinced, how about the trophies are really for the parents?
And if you’re still not convinced <cough, conservative males, cough> do recall that God also created mothers.
Eh, my son prefers snow-boarding anyway. He thinks your trophies are for attention-seeking hogs who cannot just enjoy some good fun. lol
February 25th, 2010 at 3:46 am
Taking away the value of victory from the achievers and rewarding the ones who didn’t succeed in life ism a very liberal concept. They have such good intentions. They don’t want the losers to feel bad.it just makes the winners feel like they won nothing. Why try so hard? The road to hell is paved with good intentions and the liberals blindly stroll down that road.
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February 25th, 2010 at 4:11 am
I have a young son and from my experience with people in our lives I’d say that most people who feel this way are also people I know to be mostly liberal in their other beliefs. I don’t actually know a person who follows a hard conservative or hard liberal line about every single thing they believe.
I do believe, however, that both ideologies appeal to general trends in personality. We all follow beliefs to their logical (or illogical) ends, so it makes sense that the stereotype would mostly (not always) hold true.
Something interesting that I realized when I was contemplating why people would want to reward win and lose the same was that, as a culture, we are afraid of feelings. For the most part we seem incapable or unwilling to deal with anger, sadness, frustration, and even often happiness and joy. To avoid having to deal with these emotions and develop self esteem naturally we teach kids how to get around the whole ugly mess–which is consequently, our lives.
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February 25th, 2010 at 4:56 am
I’m liberal and I think it is wrong, all should learn you can’t always win and you don’t get a trophy for losing. Only a right wing extremist would think it is a good idea
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