School can turn into a harsh competition

@megamatt (14292)
United States
May 9, 2012 7:53am CST
In the process of gaining your education, you do realize that school can really be a competition, to get the best grades, to be the best student, to be at the top of the class for some people. Some people study themselves right into misery, which is one of the regrets that I had when looking back at school after I had completed. Yet there is a lot of competition in school, whether it be in academics, athletics, or just fitting in more than some people(if one is inclined to do such a thing). School can be a rather competitive environment and that is not a good thing. Any success should be for your own personal gratification and not to outshine someone else.
4 responses
@babyEj (1522)
• Philippines
12 May 12
Yes, school educates and trained you to be an achiever therefore competition exists. As long as it is healthy you don't have to worry with it. Anyway real life has many competitions and they are both healthy and not.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
15 May 12
Indeed many types of competition do exist right in real life and some of them are extremely healthy, while others of them are not so. Competition as itself is not the real problem. It is when people rather run away with the competition in an absurd manner and pretty much everything that goes along with it. Where it becomes an obsession. And really, there are just going to be many times where people tend to lose sight of what they need to do. When they have lost the point of what they need to do, then the competition has really just went off of the rails to say the very least. Competition can lead us down good roads but it can also rather lead us down some harsh roads.
• Philippines
10 May 12
I am guilty of being a little competitive in highschool. I used to compare my grades with the other girls and I will admit this even though this is embarrassing but I also used to compare my face or my physical appearance to the other girls back then. I felt like I had to have the higher grade or the prettiest face. But that changed when I got into college. I guess that's because I met so many different kinds of people that I felt like comparing doesn't seem to be necessary anymore. I also felt like I have become more mature now.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
15 May 12
Yeah it is something that in reflection, we can look back and just realize how absurd that it was. And in some cases, we can look back and really see the pettiness of what did in fact happened right in our youth. It might seem like logical, rational behavior for those who were younger but now, it is just rather silly to say the least. In part it it is because of human nature that we are going to compare and contrast to say the very least. However, there are times where we can take it too far, much too far, and it is really nearly hurtful when you think about it. Therefore, competition can be healthy at times, but at the same time, you just got to worry about what you need to do to succeed.
@Graceekwenx (3160)
• Philippines
9 May 12
Ive been there. I realized that competing with someone else is quite a childish conduct. Instead of competing with someone else, compete with your inefficiencies and laziness. I think that that is the way to go.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
9 May 12
Yeah that is really something to consider, in the end, what other people do, really doesn't matter. There are times where things do seem perfectly rational when we are much younger right when we are going to get our education. However really with the benefit of hindsight, it is really just something that is an absolutely and utter waste of time. Really in the end, it is down to our performance and that should be the only thing that we focus on. If we focus on competing with others, then we will lose sight of our goals and then we will be really be unable to absolutely really get much of anything done. We should really focus on what we need to do in the end and that will steer us in the proper direction.
• Philippines
9 May 12
Yes, school can be a harsh competitions and sometimes, it is quite ironic that the friends you make in school can also be your bitter enemy when it comes to rankings and awards. Personally, I did see my school years as a type of competition. Of course, I didn't announce it to my classmates and fellow 'enemies') but I think everybody knows that it;'s a every-man-for-himself-competition inside the classroom. Friends are always there but there's also someone that you want to beat even once in any test, quiz or the like. but again, at the end of the day, or the school year, it really doesn't matter somehow. you tend to go with the friends and enemies and share stories about teh same teacher or the same subject. Perhaps, for the sake of getting a mention at graduation and something to be proud of is what the competition is all about. Something to prove yourself and something to make your parents proud. But when you are out of school, everything stays the same at the same time changes. You don;t view your 'enemies' o the same light and appreciate them more.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
9 May 12
That really does sum up a lot about school. Friends and enemies a like really do become rather an obstacle. There are times where we laugh about the insanity of school after the fact and really just reflect about how serious it is. However, it is when we are "off the clock" so to speak, it is just easier to really let our hair downs. I really do think that we appreciate just what happened and maybe really laugh about everything at the end. They are just rather mere memories right at the time, but in the end, reflections are really that in the end, all that matters is that you did good and you remember what you did, long after what everyone else had in fact done in school.