Cooperation vs. Competition

I agree with the article written by Perry W. Buffington. It suggests that cooperation is a better angle to life than competition and I think this is completely true. If you go through life competitively, you begin to loose sight of what you are trying to accomplish, and you begin to fail. With cooperation you learn to work as a team, and not simply think of yourself. Competition focuses primarily on yourself, and you can start to loose sight of the well being of others around you. Cooperation allows everyone to be involved and feel like they are part of something. Cooperation is better for the good of the individual using it directly, but also for the others surrounding that person. If someone is being cooperative with you, it is most likely that they will be cooperative back. Of course there can be a balance, and a healthy amount of competition can be incorporated. For example, while doing group projects - trying to be better than the next group, but on a healthy level. This will promote success as well as more teamwork in the group. By this I mean a very small amount of competition because cooperation is obviously the better choice for a healthy lifestyle. I believe competition decreases self esteem. Competition requires trying to live up to someone else, or to be better than them, and that it turn decreases your self respect and your self esteem. You are basically comparing yourself to others, and this decreases mental happiness. Cooperative games should be included in PE class and be a majority of the games played. This could include being cooperative in teams for relays or sport-like games. Competition is of course an aspect of a Physical Education class, but should not be the primary focus. A gym class focuses on boosting students' self esteem and confidence, and cooperation is a great way to do that. Competion is a main aspect of many sports, but a gym class should incorporate cooperation into these types of games. No, we should not be promoting elite sport in school. Some students just don't have the ability or simply don't want to play elite sports. A gym class should not force this upon them. For those who want to play elite sports, they will have to turn to sport teams, and experience their elite sports in that form - not in a general class of physical education.