On 20-9-2011 19:24, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:11:31 -0500, Mike Raiford wrote:
>
>> On 9/20/2011 5:54 AM, Invisible wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Think about it. In a competition, you win by making somebody else lose.
>>>
>>>
>> Of course, the real world is competitive. What you have done, by denying
>> the existence of competition is sent someone into society who is
>> ill-prepared to deal with that society. Sure, you can have personal
>> goals, but somewhere someone is going to lose out where you win. The
>> other applicants for a job, the promotion from a pool of workers,
>> finding a mate; all competitive.
>>
>> By not acknowledging that the world is competitive, that person is
>> likely to experience extreme disappointment when they don't get the job.
>> "But it was my personal goal, why didn't it happen?"
>>
>> Or, it could swing the other way. "Hey! It was my personal goal to
>> become manager. Your goals don't matter, so what is your problem? I
>> achieved my goal. I'm sure you will someday, too.
>>
>> Learning competition means understanding that you will not always come
>> out on top. It's about learning to be fair to others. It means giving
>> the other side due consideration. I for one welcome competition in our
>> schools.
>>
>> That statement by that teacher is dangerously ill-conceived, rather than
>> insightful.
>
> I agree.
>
> A world where people don't know that sometimes there is a winner and
> sometimes there is a loser means that you get people who can't cope with
> losing.
>
> Of course it's important for students (and people in general) to know
> that they often compete with themselves.
>
> When kids who have never had to face losing hit the real world and, for
> example, don't get a job from their first interview because there was a
> better candidate then them, such a first loss is absolutely *devastating*.
>
> I think that is something that contributes to workplace violence as well.

Just a quick note: competitiveness is partly cultural. In some countries 
students compete with every other student and the percentage of students 
that pass is fixed. In other countries you pass if you meet a certain 
level.
In a mixed group, like an international organization, not being aware of 
that difference might lead to friction and even a complete shutdown of 
all functionality. What happens is that a very competitive person gets 
the top position by playing it hard. Everybody knows he got it that way 
and not by being the right person for the job. Then nobody wants to work 
with him (seldom a her) and nothing gets done.

Quite a lot of people that live in competitive countries are not aware 
that the higher you get in an international organization the less you 
can force someone lower in rank to do what you want. In a monoculture it 
works different.

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