Question

an article on today' s competition in schools

Answer 1

The roots of education lie hidden in an unknown past; those of competition are even less traceable. Children spontaneously seek competition with their peers. They seem to have an innate desire to compare themselves with others in every way, for example, by running and wrestling. Such play is obviously beneficial to a child's development. From play it is a small step to physical and intellectual contests, generally known as sports, which adults indulge in for their own sake.

Just as with education, also some forms of competition became formalized long ago in human history. That is, competition is bound by rules and becomes organized by specialists. However, early historical records are much less explicit about this than in the case of education. At first, formal competition was restricted to sports. The role of formal competition in other areas is a much more recent phenomenon. Again, it should be noted that informal competition still plays an important role as well.

Large-scale sporting events involving athletics or ball games took place perhaps as early as 2000 BC. From the earliest records of champions it is known that the Greeks have held their Olympic Games at least since 776 BC. However, it is believed that by that time, games had been organized in Greece for already over 500 years. The Olympic Games were the most famous of four classical Greek sporting events organized regularly as part of religious festivals. In conjunction with these games there were often also music competitions. At first only token prizes could be won (a wreath or garland), but eventually substantial prizes were awarded at a luxurious closing ceremony. That the Olympic Games played an important role in Greek life is evidenced by the fact that the Greek unit of time was the Olympiad, the period of four years between two issues of the Olympic Games. The classical Olympic Games were put to an end by the ruling Romans in AD 393.

It is not surprising that education and competition are intimately related. On one hand, it is natural for children to compete and, therefore, understandable that competition is put to educational use. On the other hand, competition may be found so important in adult life, that a society especially educates their young to compete. For instance, in Sparta, the most prosperous Greek city in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, physical education was dominated by contests, in particular the Olympic Games, where Spartans often won more than half of the top honors

I am convinced

that competitions have much to offer in education (no matter what your point of view is),that competitions are a good measure of how well a discipline is accepted and integrated into the curriculum (a healthy, diverse set of competition events is a positive sign, whereas a lack of good competitions may in some cases be interpreted as a negative sign),that competitions should be further developed (in all diversity; you can use the checklist to put together a competition of your own liking),that organizing a good competition is a major challenge, (in particular, the follow-up is important but very labor-intensive),that competitive desires can be exploited to incorporate technology into the curriculum (however, competition should not be the only way to do so),that competitions should enjoy broader acceptance in the (international) arena of education, andthat competitions should receive more support and attention from the academic and industrial worlds and from governments.

HOPE IT HELPS......!!!!!