Competition is a funny thing, really. It’s all around us everyday–the need to get the better grade, the excitement that comes with winning a football game, or the selectiveness of colleges and jobs–yet we loathe it simultaneously. For many of us, it brings out our bad side, the minuscule portion of our being that is forced out occasionally against our efforts to shove it back in. That being said, I find it extremely important to be exposed to competition as frequently as possible. This is because as we age, we are supposed to learn how to handle and accept competition in a mature way, and it seems that there are continuous efforts to eliminate as much competition from youth’s lives as possible. Although it seems that children and teenagers cannot handle competitive events appropriately, can adults really ask them to?

It’s part of what I understand to be the learning cycle. So what if teenagers get into arguments over a seemingly irrelevant contest or competition? The only way we can learn to act appropriately is to act inappropriately and then realize how ridiculous we were to act that way. By taking away the numerous opportunities for teens to make mistakes, adults are setting us up for failure in a much more vital time in our lives. As we enter adulthood, there are higher expectations placed on our abilities to act maturely in all social interactions, including those of competitive nature. If we have yet to learn from our unnecessary and irrational reactions to competition in our youth, then we will continue react this way in a time where there will be serious consequences. Instead of getting ridiculed by teachers or fellow students, or even worse, getting punished for your actions, an adult that cannot handle competition could miss out on a job opportunity or lose the jobs they already have, among others. Therefore, it is much safer and easier to learn these life lessons earlier in life.

I’d like to think that as an adult, I will have received a good portion of the life lessons necessary to live in the constantly changing, and increasingly competitive world that surrounds me. I’d like to believe that as a kid, I was not sheltered based on the mere fact that failure was imminent. Because failure is learning, and in this case, failure is necessary; without it I’d be incapable of doing much of anything. But hey, at least I’d be well versed in reacting poorly to competition.