COMPETE OR COLLABORATE?

Competition can refer to a situation where two or more individuals are striving or contesting to gain something in order to either establish superiority or supremacy among themselves. Competition can sometimes be an organized sport or game, or even a quiz in a class setting. It can also result among students in a class contesting for who is better than whom.

The education system in Nigeria has always encouraged competition among students and pupils, from giving positions to these pupils and students at the end of every term to show who came best and who was worst. I can remember while at school, after every continuous assessment, the first three and last three of each class were always announced to the hearing of every member of the school. I
could remember how demoralizing it was when I was called in for the last three position in my class.

Although calling me in the last three at the continuous assessment made me come first three in the whole of my set the next term, I still don’t cherish how they want to make students compete for such things among themselves. I refuse to say that there is healthy competition in everything, for as much as there are benefits in competition, there is always a bad side to it.

Imagine a scenario where a man decides to marry more than one wife and has them compete for his love. These women will have nothing to do with their time and life rather than competing among themselves to become the better wife for their husband. This is sad because it is a waste of economic time where productivity is being subdued to competing for the love of a man. Or the case where schools make students undergo competition among themselves for superiority and recognition; it can result in these individual students having damaged self-esteem, anxiety, and always trying to win at all costs. Competition can create an environment of pressure where students who do not
perform well may result in losing their self-respect or may even have anxieties.

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That being said, competition can be made healthy when it is all about growth and not just about winning, where the parties involved have mutual respect for themselves. This competition is focused on improvement and a positive attitude towards learning. The individuals competing are allowed to support each other in challenging and difficult times.

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Competition can breed growth and can create a healthy work or learning environment if handled with the utmost show of respect to the parties involved. To encourage healthy competition, one must try as much as possible to do away with toxic competition or competition that encourages toxicity. People should be allowed to be themselves, unlike in the case of my school where students were being shamed for not performing well in their studies while glorifying those that did well studies.

Thank you for reading. My name is @rishagamo and this is my response to the Hive Learners weekly Featured Content Week 171 Episode 01: “HEALTHY COMPETITION”.