Rewarding Accomplishment Analysis

Today, the world has shifted into seeing a prize as a gift that is given instead of earned. They have formed a bad habit of not seeing a point in trying or being motivated without a something to award them with afterwards. Participation trophies are crutches that have begun to take over the minds of those competing. Trophies are made to have a meaning. It is stated that, “Participation awards are place holders in life. They are records of accomplishment” (Priceman). At a young age, many kids see a participation award as a prize of what they have overcome. It motivates them to continue trying, however, as they age, they lose interest in the trophies they have collected over the years. When they realize how many other kids have the same exact trophy for the same reasons, the trophy becomes less important and its meaning starts to vanish. This is not to say that rewarding children is unimportant. “ Rewarding accomplishment is an important part of the education process, however, this process needs to be …show more content…
Merryman says, “If parents believed that overcoming failure and mistakes, makes you stronger, then their children believe it, too” (Merryman). Parents have a way of raising their young to be aggressive and revolving completely around the award they receive. If they were raised knowing that the progress is worth more than the trophy, then they would understand that prizes aren’t always the outcome of accomplishment. Kids have begun to only want to be there for the prize they are use to getting in the end. It has been proven that, “We begin to expect awards and praise for just showing up” (Berdan). They join a team picturing the prize, instead of the fun and experience. The image of an award crowds their judgement and often makes it impossible for a child to learn from their failure, their mistakes, and flaws. No child is perfect, but when awarded a trophy for everything, it fails to teach them how to