Fay Schlesinger of the Daily Mail reports on the continued softening of Western culture.
"Last year the Football Association banned children under the age of eight from playing in football leagues and cups amid fears they are under too much pressure.Dame Kelly Holmes yesterday launched a stinging attack on the decline of competitive sport in schools and said it risked spawning a generation of bad losers.
Youngsters can still play matches but results must be kept private and no league tables can be compiled.
They should not compete in knockout tournaments where trophies or medals are at stake, FA officials said."
The double Olympic champion and former Army physical training instructor blamed a culture of political correctness for making 'competitiveness' a dirty word.
Her comments come a year after Gordon Brown admitted Labour had made a 'tragic mistake' by allowing dozens of mainly left-wing councils to scrap competitive sports in schools in the 1980s.
This meant huge numbers of inter- school matches and tournaments were cut from state schools after theorists claimed children on losing teams could end up psychologically traumatised.
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27 comments:
Oh, the TRAUMA!
Over here in Little League they don't keep score for the young ones, around age 6. After that they keep score. They have tryouts, playoffs, etc. When t ball players are barely old enough to know which direction to run the base path I can understand that games would be considered "practice games". But at some point, losing is character-building.
Do they stop playing board games with their kids over there? I mean, if you play Sorry or Monopoly with your kids, somebody might LOSE. Won't that hurt their "feewings"? OK, I will admit to cheating at board games with my kids in order to let them win. But past a certain age, they need to learn to handle losing. Without that skill, how will they handle difficulties in life. Everybody faces rejection at some point. The job interview you never got called back on. The manuscript that did not go anywhere. The attractive person who doesn't seem to know you are alive. The college you didn't get into. This is LIFE folks. Let's not dumb down our kids' education to the point that they are unable to handle it.
Ope, even during my son's t-ball phase, those little boys and girls were softly keeping score.
In the Northern California version of Monopoly...
When you pass GO, you have to pay $200 to the Community Chest
You can't purchase the Railroads because they're owned by the Community Chest.
Your properties are frequently lost by Eminent Domain to the Community Chest.
The Solar and Wind utility companies never make money.
Players from surrounding Checkers and Yahtzee games can just wander onto your board and receive Community Chest funds.
It's no fun to play.
It is the dirty little secret of Marxist ideology that if you outlaw winners, all you end up with is... losers!
Wolfie, look at Congress. The Marxist dirty work seems done!
Americans despise losers.
Oh, I know there are the NEA socialist types who declare (everyone's a winner).
* Why do we pay SUCCESSFUL sports stars so MUCH and teachers so little? Because we love winners.
* Do pretty women chase men who are UNSUCCESSFUL or POWERLESS?
* Do powerful, successful men tend to select HAGS or CRONES to be their mates and bear their offspring?
* Why do we adore SUCCESSFUL actors? I don't see any adulation for the "worst actor of the year".
* Winning in American society is not measured by piety.
* How do we measure success? Is it by how poor you are?
Irrespective of your religious convictions, EVOLUTION happens. The successful survive in any species and the unsuccessful do not. It's not fair, but in nature "everyone isn't a winner".
All you do when you teach children that it's ok to loose is set them up for FAILURE in the real world where winning and losing is a daily event.
Opus is right. In t-ball the kids keep track of who is winning even if it's not official.
Goomba hit square on my PET PEEVE.
LL, I appreciate your spirited response to my post, but I'm tempted to delete it. It seems a bit too competitive.
Perhaps you could limit your comments to 3 brief sentences and leave room for others.
Also, your biased and obviously racist leanings are inappropriate for a public forum. I fear you may offend.
Finally, this is a blog wherein others may share positive and uplifting input. Please comment with these guidelines in mind, you sexist fascist hatemonger.
CORRECTION:
I meant to say "you sexist fascist capitalist hatemonger."
In love and peace,
Nickie
My sons 11 and 13, take martial arts classes, they also play hockey and race their snow-machines, dirt bikes and BMX/dirt-jump bikes. They like to win but can take a loss with some grace.
A very strange flowy-skirted woman noticed the martial arts gear my boys wear and offered the unsolicited opinion that I was raising bullies and future violent criminals.
Her won sons are encouraged to play tennis and other sports that inspire competition only 'within one self'
As you can well imagine, I was extremely grateful to this woman for sharing her enlightening views on the my short-comings as a parent and immediately took my kids out of any sport that involved learning anything about the competitive and sometimes rougher nature of life.
They are now on the olympic knitting team trying very hard to become better people who don't out knit one- pearl two, each other.
Oh no, wait, it ended differently, and I never even thought to get her advice on how to keep the score at the end of a tennis match a secret so that there would be no winners or losers, as my bestial nature seems to drive me to win even in non-team sports.
Interesting and insane subject matter.
Also, no poor school performance may result in a 'failing' grade. No 'F's' allowed. Makes the slackers feel like failures and we wouldn't want that.
Good grief !
In answer to LL's questions ... yes, pretty women do chase losers, and vice versa. Lots of losers are loaded with dough, ... "serious dough", as Uncle Buck would say. I think the issue of what constitutes a winner is a little more complex than what the score was or how much money one has.
In fact, our socialist masters view the material as the sign of "winning"; this is what Marx and his progeny taught. Thus, they redistribute wealth so that there are no "winners". But winning in the sense we have historically understood it here in America is broader than the buck.
Generally, it's the secular leftists and education guru types who are against competing and winning, incidentally, not those who still believe in the Judeo-Christian ethic. Granted, this goo of a philosophy has seeped into many crevices where it would and should otherwise be rejected, though.
BTW, aren't we winner taxpayers getting ready to pay for the health care of those who don't provide same for their families? Which way are we evolving, any way? Some would suggest we are "evolving" the successful out of existence, and that the whole problem stems from a lack of piety. George Washington warned about this once.
Are we evolving into a better place, where people save trees and elect a president who would deny a medical procedure to a beloved family member because of an actuarial table? Ah, but that's a discussion for another day.
To demonstrate how I view this subject on a personal level ...
Years ago, they used to lie to my oldest son after his t-ball games and tell them they tied. What a coincidence ... we tied three times in a row! It burned me up, and I was about to address it. But he came to me first and said, "Dad, we tied again?" He knew something was up.
I said, "No, son. They lied to you. You lost. It's not the end of the world. What the real problem is that adults have such hang-ups that they can't break the "hard news" to 5-year-olds that the lost a t-ball game." If this is "bad news", what is real bad news, as Opie said above?
My oldest is (still) learning how to compete. But he is a broke college student (of course). He is a winner.
Kids are always, always keeping score. Competition is instinctive. If they're not competing in sports, there WILL BE some other area in which they will find a winner and a loser. And if they don't learn how to deal with BEING the loser, it'll be worse in whatever the other area of competition is.
Kids are always keeping score, what are these grownups smokin'.
All that Democrats know or want to do is level the playing field. Political correctness is all about equality. Sports are suppose to be competitive, therefore leading to inequality, and not promoting the political correct way of life.
I say the heck with political correctness!! WE need good old fashioned competitiveness that promotes a hard work ethic instead of these wimps that are in Congress now. Our Reps our dumbing down our chidren with all their feel good self-esteem crap. They are promoting a me me, selfish generation of kids instead of challenging kids to give their all, and be the best that they can be.
Teachers in my city were told not to use red ink when correcting papers. Liberals said it makes the kid feel bad.
Does anyone give a rats butt how bad I feel about the education they're NOT GETTING?!?!?!
Thanks for the story and for stopping by and commenting on my blog. I appreciate you and your efforts. LEAD ON!!
Powderpuff,
I was concerned when my male dog, Truman, developed a controlling and over-competitive attitude in his interactions with my female cat, Rainbow.
I had reached the end of my wick trying to overide the sexist/fascist setting on his mealtime manners meter. I finally hsd to cut his balls off. Peace.
DC,
It's amazing that the Leftie culture despises competing and winning elect a Chicago thug machine to power.
The Windy City Boys find ways not to have to compete, but they still love winning.
Cassie, you couldn't be more correct. Do you remember competing with a sibling for just a little extra room in the back seat of the DeSoto?
"Youse kids, knock that shit off. I'm gonna stop this car".
Terri, girl, you sure can deliver a speech. You'll have my vote when you run for office.
Heck, I'll even contact Acorn and vote 3 or 4 times.
"Does anyone give a rats butt how bad I feel about the education they're NOT GETTING?!?!?!"
Emo, in those simple words, you summed up the whole thing. You, sir, are a poet.
Somewhere, another Libertarian is being born.
Socialist Labour UK have been promising for years that they will put a stop to this 'everyones a winner' nonsense yet it becomes ever more ingrained.
By having no winners they disguise the fact that they are raising another generation of losers.
thanks for coming by!
my 6 year old son is playing tackle football and they will be getting trophies ONLY if they win the season. OH THE SHAME!! :)
Banned, I understand there's a rumor that, to be fair, the next FA cup will be awarded to everyone in the UK.
Lizzie, you'll know who to blame when your son is 22, living in Africa, and poaching elephants for their ivory.
Shame!!!
Nickie,
Thanks for the compliment. I can't wait to serve the citizens of this great country someday.
Listen you Yankee wimps, you're missing the point.
Wait'll you have yourselves a State-run health service like ours here in Britain; you'll find out what competition's like, and then some.
The smokers competing with the non-smokers for cardio-thoracic surgery. The hypochondriacs competing with the sick to get to the head of the line to see the doctor.
The old peoples' relatives (and potential inheritors) trying to persuade surgeons to up Grandma's morphine dose to lethal levels 'for her own good' competing with young girls wanting to get their third abortion in as many years (even though the Pill and condoms are given away for free here.)
The drunks in Accident and Emergency on Saturday nights competing with the junkies to meet the doctors whom they will immediately abuse and threaten with rape and violence if she doesn't patch their self-inflicted wounds up and send them straight out onto the streets for more of the intoxicant of their choice - and all because medical treatment is 'a human right' in a socialized system.
Who needs sport when people are competing for their lives and their children's lives with welfare junkies>
Dr. North. WOW! Great post. I'm going to highlight it soon.
He puts the piss in pissed-off...
Northie, that is some very powerful testimony.
Nickie Goomba. Rhod.Opus #6.
Thank you, thank you, thank you: I'm here 'till Thursday.
It's all true, though, and worse: the US Mail taking over UPS and Google - nobody gets rich, or information on time, but few people die from it.
Now hand you hospitals over to the IRS and see what it takes to persuade a 9-to 5 State oncologist to see you ahead of others on the list before it's metastasised beyond surgery control or cure.
And, as the Al Qaeda stand-up comedian said; 'You've all been a wonderful audience and now you must die..'
And my personal experience and testimony is...?
Spreading the Disease
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