Grades. Sports. Games. Performance. Nerdy math things. The list trundles on and on, the various ways in which students are pitted against each other. Competition is admittedly a pretty neat concept- through it, students can theoretically push themselves to new heights and in directions, students can find the drive to work harder and truly excel. If one is not too careful, though, competition ceases to be a tool for furthering excellence, and instead transforms into a monstrous beast that consumes the lives and minds of those it has engulfed, until they are reduced to piteous blobs with lead-stained hands, non-functionals who can only think in comparisons- that is, themselves vs. anything else, really. Conversely, a dearth of competition theoretically will lead to a complacent society that will inevitably be engulfed by the sun in around 5 billion years, if they don’t manage to starve themselves to death beforehand.
Both the excess and deficiency of Competition are undesirable, and pretentiously I say that Aristotle’s “Golden Mean” should be sought; to a certain extent, this is what the administration of my High School actually does. Complacency is ironed out through the continuation of the grading system. Likewise, unnecessary competition is not foisted upon us through the decision to not rank students, a choice I wholeheartedly support. Unfortunately, many students have yet to get the memo, and are still dawdling in the land of overt-competition, a fantastically self-centered world of trivialities and concerns.
A year ago, if anyone had asked me, a rambling Junior, about my feelings towards pressure and competition in my class, I would have given said roving report a befuddled look to fully indicate the depth of my ignorance concerning the attitudes of my peers. I, being one of those types that preferred solitary time spent outside, was not knowledgeable of any sort of inordinate competitiveness going on. As for my own attitude, I had personally exhausted my supply of academic competition in 8th grade, where my time and intellect were riddled away in an insanely stupid competition, a “perfectionist who has no life” contest whose end goal was to beat my equally competitive intellectual friend for the highest gpa slot; I don’t even want to think of the hours I lost while striving for straight A+’s.
Ashamed and rather burnt out, when high school commenced I dropped this attitude and instead kept my interests in my peers’ grades and achievements to a minimum (not that I didn’t laud their efforts and awards, I just didn’t care as much). In fact, any competitiveness that I once had in my body seemed to have been ground out by the intense, academic competition that was the defining factor of my 8th grade year. When I transferred to a new high school during sophomore year, I had no desire to beat my newly acquired classmates at anything. One afternoon, though, my little world of competitive ignorance was cracked by a stunningly stupid and frightening contest that is becoming more and more commonplace: a competition over who is more tired .
Don’t believe me? Pick a random time, and announce to those around you that you are very, very tired. Almost instantly, some bleary-eyed teenager will fall for the trap and proudly announce that they only obtained two hours of sleep because of so-and-so projects that they so “foolishly” put off. Immediately, another peer will enter the fray, trumping this with only one hour of sleep, only to be further one-upped by another person, who also got one hour of sleep and who had a pet die in the morning, or something equally woeful (I slight not pets, I love mine dearly).
Somehow, students are beginning to wear their sleep-deprivation and the “misery” incurred by hard work as a medal, a medal garnered in the war they are fighting with the school. This is ridiculous, for who truly competes for negative awards? “Hey, I just won the worst-mile-time-award! Cool! Well, I just go the most-f’s-in-a-class award, etc.” Facetiousness aside, what truly frightens me is that students become so introverted and wrapped up in their individual worlds that they loose sight of the bigger picture, the crucial perspective. Sure, the amount of sleep you got is important to yourself and your friends, who may or may not care for your disposition, but no one gives a damn if you stayed up all night playing video games or writing a paper. Some people stay up all night because they have to, insomniacs, soldiers at war, the unfortunate souls in torture facilities, overworked parents trying to sustain their families…
Keep an open mind, keep the perspective- we students should be extremely thankful, both for our school and for the resources available to us from the ever-growing technological industries. Cast off the medal of unhealthy competitions and enjoy life for its own sake, not for trivial victories in trivial matters that do nothing but damage the mind and polarize the class. And please, in the process, try to get more sleep!
14 comments:
Though competition is a "monstrous beast" that does x,y,z, it is good for the soul.
I think the benefits of "real competition" (and by that I mean competition of grades, sports, games, performance, and nerdy math things; not who's more tired) is undervalued.
Competition -> crazed souls -> forced learning -> understanding through immersion.
Right?
The merits of competition are there, even intense competition that forces this "immersion". I think I was more annoyed at the "wider spread" of competition, ie everyone being competitive over the slightest of things, ie sleep.
But, that form of intense immersion may not be for everyone. Some people snap, break, burn-out, etc, but yes there are merits. The golden mean will go against real philosophy and be personalized.
Amen!
Though I agree with Kevin that a certain amount of competition can be productive, I think American high school students, especially those at "elite" schools (even a "public elite" like our school) are under way too much self-imposed, peer-imposed, and parent-imposed pressure. It's worthwhile to have goals for yourself and set high standards. But everyone needs to rest, and everyone needs to engage in activities that are simply pleasurable or restorative sometimes.
I love the phrase "odiferous teenage bodies cluttering the hallways like Sardines" (even if it is a bit of an exaggeration, and even if the Sardines should, technically be sardines).
Those "bleary-eyed teenagers" you should be thanking. They are not trying to compete with you, they are trying to make you feel better about your circumstance. Due to your repeated mention of the golden mean I can tell you are in philosophy. In book 3 of "The Confessions" St Augustine discusses how people take joy in other peoples pain. These people are not trying to compete with you, they are trying to make you feel better by making you see how much worse it could be.
Your blinkered view is a bit true, Daxx, though I would like to point out that I know fellow peers who read philosophical works without being in the class ( a novel idea, that).
I overlooked this view, and I suppose it is true again to a certain extent (it is more common to see this with grades, I think, but your point is valid).
Confessions, though, does not have Augustine getting unsolicited complaints and tribulations, instead he chooses to go see these plays that tug at the ol' heartstrings. Hypothetically, if I asked someone how they slept (after noticing their sunken eyes or dazed expression), I might very well indeed enjoy their misery by commiserating with said student. Gratuitous complaints, though, are another story.
I would assume most people who enjoy philosophical works would take philosophy class. I don't understand how I could be a "bit true" when stating a binary opposition, if you do by some chance happen not to be in philosophy I apologize.
You are soliciting complaints and tribulations (in your example) by bringing up the fact that your tired. How would you like people to respond?
Your assumption is correct =].
In what example did I say I was tired? I am not going to go around telling people I'm dead tired, which was kind of the point of the whole article ^_^. Maybe I'll warn close friends that I'll be a bit spacier that day, but I'm not going to announce that to everyone... and if I hypothetically did, those people should simply ignore me or remind me that it could be worse. As always.
Which fellow peers are /you/ speaking of, AKA?
Right; well, binary opposition or not, Daxx, I shouldn't say that either claim is even “mostly correct”, let alone “completely correct”. In fact, I find “a bit true” quite an accurate description: both are relevant in some situations. AKA mentions grades as a potential medium for your described situation. Fine, you get a B, your friend gets a C, you feel vaguely better than at you weren't the /worst/. But AKA makes a fair point as well, and a point more directly relevant to the idea of useless competition. These bleary-eyed teenagers we speak of are hardly worthy of /thanks/, not in this situation. There is no “how much worse it could be”; we've all /been/ there and we likely all will be again, whether or not we are on that day, in that moment. And in this sense, at least, they /are/ trying to compete. You say, offhandedly, “I am so tired,” and immediately the qualifications pour in. Five, three, two hours. One hour. None at all. They (I should say we, to be frank) jostle for first place, each one knocked from his spot until we crown the /king/ of misery, an apparently coveted role. They want an awed, “Oh, wow, I could never do that”; some form of meaningless praise, mindless flattery. But the pain is shallow too, that's the point. It's like fighting to see who has the most impressive paper cut. To say, “That hurts,” is without qualification, needs no justification, but to say, “That's nothing, my cut is two centimetres!” “Mine is three!” seems to imply both a distinct /lack/ of camaraderie and a lack of awareness that real pain cuts far deeper than a paper cut. When you say, “That hurts,” or “I'm tired,” you're not searching for that; /that/ is nothing more than irritating. Perhaps you're searching for empathy. “I'm tired.” “Oh, me too; that calculus homework was murder, wasn't it?” perhaps. Can you see how they're different, though? The one is almost viciously antagonistic, the other quite friendly and without pressure.
Also, as a matter of interest, vaguely working off of the mention of Augustine, not all tragedy is for the sake of pleasure, or even does it necessarily invoke a sense of gratitude or thankfulness. A trivial example, I do enjoy Shakespearean tragedy, and I've long held a very /particular/ affection for Romeo and Juliet, so I'll sketch on that. As I say, I certainly enjoy it; I seek it out, I've read it, more than once voluntarily, but I don't find that I feel any intrinsic pleasure as they die their painful deaths (well, for the sake of this example, I don't), nor am I particularly thankful (ah, childish ungratefulness, I'm /sure/ I'll grow out of this one) that none of my own upcoming personal relationships are likely to end quite so badly. Likewise, Faust has never made me think, “Oh, goodness, I do I hope /I/ never become the favourite of a devil and completely ruin my life and prospects!” and yet I adore it regardless (facetious, yes, but the example still stands). I don't think one necessarily reads, or sees, or listens for joy or relief alone; actually, I often find that my favourite pieces bring me down quite horribly. One reads, sees, and listens to find... thought, perhaps, to put oneself in a place separate from electric lights and bustling crowds.
Anyway, were you channelling eighteenth century English, AKA, or perhaps German in the writing of your post? I must admit, the occasional random noun capitalisation struck joy into my heart; thank you for that.
I probably was channeling sleep deprivation, god I only got ONE hour of sleep that night.
Sarcasm aside, it would be a shame if Daxx does not read your first paragraph, because that summarizes what I am trying to say but more caustically.
Interesting, your point. Well, I am by no means an Augustine Scholar, but I think that Augustine correlates being "brought down" by vicarious misery to a sort of pleasure-seeking. (See Chapter II of Book 3: http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/saints/augcon3.htm)
Ah, it would be rather callous to disclose names, wouldn't it? All I can say was I had this mentality for a day or two and then felt ridiculously immature.
So...much...text...
If I say something badly its probably because I only got a HALF HOUR of sleep last night.
LXS: The binary opposition thing was about philosophy your either in the class or not.
In my opinion people feel better when someone is bellow them and by saying you are below them you are making them feel better. I guess its just two ways of looking at it.
Maybe some people are trying to make you feel better some aren't.In most cases I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were not trying to compete. I also wouldn't consider someone saying they got less sleep than me "viciously antagonistic" (my bad if you weren't referring to the sleep example I couldn't tell).
(read the following in Mr Vaughn's voice)
You are deluuuuuuuuding yourself into thinking that their suffering isn't a reason why you read it. Suuuuuubcoooonciously you reallllly doooo enjoy it greatly.
I too like the capitalization I shall try it.
AKA:
"announce to those around you that you are very, very tired"
This is the soliciting I was referring to.
Haha, Mr. Vaughn's voice would need an obligatory "realllllly" in there somewhere.
Sorry about your sleep Daxx ^_^.
--the soliciting line is a hypothetical scenario to show that the competition exists, not something I maliciously do to provoke the competition that I later use to "back-stab" my classmates.
ANYWAY everyone has made good points and the sleep thing is not a major problem, more of a minor annoyance. Let us move on, and I think I will optimistically take Daxx's view that people are trying to be empathetic and not competitive (though it's usually easy to tell. Whatever).
People, people. Stop spending time on blogs. Get more sleep .
Apologies; my tendency unchecked is towards verbosity. It comes from reading too many old books.
Causticity was not my object, but if it came across as effective, so it goes. Anyway, A, I rather think you're impeding the progression of what could be quite a life-changing discussion. True enlightenment, or however much of it can be gleaned from staring at computer screens, is undoubtedly worth a day of self-hatred and blithering exhaustion (that was a joke, but only just so).
Ah; in that case, you're still sort of wrong, you could be auditing. That could be construed as a case of being partially in a class.
What, don't you like indulging yourself with the notion that you're the most wretched of creatures alive? Humbly, I would suggest that people /do/ take pleasure in thinking themselves miserable (therefore stronger, in some ways), and, perhaps less humbly, I don't care what Augustine says about that.
I so rarely have the pleasure of hearing Mr. Vaughn's voice such that it does not come immediately to me, but that's awfully Freudian of you regardless, thank you. Tres iceberg theory.
There was an interesting bit in Psychology Today recently about human premonition--so if I've failed to make clear my point, or if my point fails to bind completely, I'll blame it on the fact that at some point in the likely near future, I will not have slept very well. There's nonsense for you.
This is definitely insightful, and clearly you hit a nerve because of the various reactions it got. Your writing style is unique -- I can't quite decide if I like it or not. Perspective is something gained from experience and I appreciate you sharing some of your's (though some ppl may look at the same situation quite differently, I could at the very least see where you were coming from).
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