Nowadays in this modern society, the younger generation are facing increasingly fierce competition in almost every aspect of life, which brings most parents, if not all, tremendous pressure and deep fear that their children may be left behind and be kicked out of the flow of competition in the near future. Consequently, many parents are laying ceaseless emphasis upon competitive success when their children are quite young, injecting the idea with their children that being NO.1 is all that matters, blindly regarding it as a lifetime guarantee of their happy life.
I do not deny that great competitiveness can, up to a certain point, make those children’ future life much easier and happier, but is it really rational to instill the sense of competition into children in their childhood, at an age when they do not even know what competitiveness is? I think it is not. On the contrary, it will bring great damage to children, socially, psychologically and physically.
To start with, too much emphasis upon competition will impair the cooperative competency of a child.
It seems that, in contemporary society, all the activities, including some unimportant games, that children participate in are centered on competitive success, and therefore almost from kindergarten to college life, they’ve been required to be more excellent than their peers. With this undue cultivation of the will to win, the generally-received competitive conception deep-rooted in those children’ subconsciousness will to a large degree shape their values, in regard to which life is not a journey where you can enjoy the beautiful scenery alongside the road, but a race in which respect is only bestowed to the victor. Cooperative competency is, however, largely based on a character of kindness, tolerance and compromise, which those children barely possess, provided that they have been instilled the sense of competition since at their mothers’ knees. This deep-seated competitive conception gives rise to those children being unable to build a healthy relationship with his partners when growing up.
Secondly, the competitive habit of the mind will breed psychological morbidity.
For example, having been constantly taught to be competitive, a pupil in primary school, habitually being more inclined to demonstrate an obstinate desire to win, in order to be elected as the monitor of his class, will be over-cautious about everything that might threaten his possibility. He will sit straight up, and dare not move at all, even with a mosquito stinging his face, for fear that he should make an unfavorable impression on his teacher or his classmates who happen to hold a vote. This instance, which is by no means uncommon, implies that those children who have an adamant desire to win will have an absurdly good adaptation to any given standard, without the consideration of their own instincts and passions. Once their self-constraint reach the limit, they will be brought to the verge of collapse, getting out of control and going to extremes. There are no shortage of examples supporting this theory, like students jumping from a high building after failing to get a high score in Gaokao, or one killing his fellow students in order to get scholarship.
The third bad effect is that endless emphasis on the sense of competition, too much reminding of being superior to their peers will do harm to children’ physical health as well.
After a long time of stressing competition on children, it will almost produce nervous fatigue, unendurable anxiety, various phenomena of escape, and lack of energy in doing anything. Many scientific statistics have showcased that continuous pressure and nervousness will emotionally accumulate toxin in children’ bodies and weaken their immune system, and as the toxin reaches a certain point, it will bring irreparable damage to their physical health, including in losing appetite, stunting the development of their height and bones, or causing skin diseases.
There’s nothing to blame for expecting a better future for their children, but childhood is a period of time for children to accumulate knowledge inwardly rather than compete against others outwardly as well as aggressively; it is a period of time to build a developmental character, as opposed to being blindly injected the idea of competition, otherwise those parents with seemingly considerable foresight may just be putting the cart before the horse.
To "逼" or not to "逼" in children's childhood? That's a question.
