Compete to Be Better

We are told from a young age that the grades that a student makes in high school and college can determine who they will be when they enter the work force as an adult. It is amazing that something that you do when you are basically still a child counts for so much. Knowing that if you fail in high school you have a higher chance to fail at life, as an adult is unnerving! When you become an adult you have to compete for a job, and in order to do so you have to be better than your opponent at whatever you do. Many high scoolers including myself know this, which is why we work so hard to succeed and become better than our fellow classmates.

In high school competition is every where; it is what makes sports events popular, it is what makes popular girls fight when they have both purchased the same prom dress, and it is also what makes students attempt to achieve better grades. High school is a breeding ground for competitions that prove superiority. As a student I know that I am constantly in competition with my peers- friends included. If my friends do really great at something and I do awful then I feel like a failure and worry that everyone will laugh at me and say that I'm not smart, or that I will never amount to anything. Worse yet, I worry that my parents will find out and ask me why I'm not doing better than my friends or my sister. Likewise, if I were to do better than my friends and my sister, people would notice me more because I would be on the honor roll and my parents would praise me for my educational success.

Without a competitive atmosphere in my educational environment I think that I would do awful in school. This would be due to the fact that there would be no reason for me to try hard- there would be no reward for doing good thus the attempt would be pointless and without a cause. It is basic psychology that humans compete for acceptance. It is also human nature for people to compete to be the alpha human; however because we no longer challenge each other like our ancestors once did we must instead compete for mental superiority, thus most try to out do each other with grades.

For some becoming the best is scoring the winning touchdown at the big game, or having the best, most expensive prom dress, or even looking better than your friends. Nevertheless, being the smartest is by far the biggest competition in high schools today. To have someone smarter than you can make you feel like you've lost the big game, which is why I believe that that a competitive atmosphere helps high schoolers do better in school.