Kids And Contests

Is The Cost Too High

April 08, 1990|By Julia Worthen.

Elementary school contests: Are there too many, too soon?

Open your child`s backpack on any given day and like as not you`ll find a crumpled contest entry inside. Young Authors, Reflections, Math League, Battle of the Books, to mention a few. Never have there been so many challenges to win, so many chances to lose.

Not all of these contests are school generated. Some of them are really commercial intrusions, corporations riding piggyback on schools, looking for freebie publicity and advertising. Others are responses by community organizations to some theme week, say fire prevention, and are largely ignored by students and teachers. Some are designed with tact and skill to bring out the best in each student. Whatever their source, they become part of the fabric of school life.

Parents who grew up with an occasional spelling bee may well wonder why there are so many contests in the elementary schools these days. Are they carefully considered additions to the curriculum or simply familiar tactics promoted by competitive adults who haven`t given it much thought.

The excitement and achievement generated by school contests carry a cost. Whenever there`s an elementary school contest, charges of unfairness fly. Feelings get hurt. Parents fume. Winners glow and losers wail.

Most parents value a keen competitive spirit and want their kids to grow up with a healthy one. They`re hoping for Timex kids: able to take a licking and keep on ticking. But is it sensible to urge competition at such an early age? Do contests focus intellectual energy or distract students into nervous and unhappy comparisons? Do fledgling abilities blossom or wither under the competitive light?

Experts warn that structured competition at too early an age can backfire, creating early burnout and a loser mentality. Child psychologists David and Barbara Bjorklund, writing in Parents magazine, say that competitive pressures so intensify during the ages of 7 to 10 that some children begin to view other kids as competitors and threats, causing difficulties in forming friendships.

Wheaton family counselor Russell Hoffman notes that young kids tend to generalize from a losing experience, jumping to the conclusion that they themselves are no good.

Hoffman believes that contests for elementary school kids are often just one more misguided attempt by adults to push children to perform too much too soon. He agrees with David Elkind, who says in his book ``The Hurried Child,`` ``Children thus become symbols or carriers of their parents` frustrated competitiveness in the workplace.``

Hoffman thinks he voices a minority view: ``I heard David Elkind speak in Naperville a few years ago and the reception he got from the parents was very cold.``

Yet many teachers and parents think that for creating excitement and motivating kids, a good contest can`t be beat. They think kids can handle competition just fine. It`s that eager-beaver sidekick, the parent, who turns competitive pleasure into pressure. Pushing and prodding, parents invest the process with an importance it was never intended to have. Even when parents restrict themselves to praise, their enthusiasm can misfire, causing the child to worry about his performance more than the underlying learning process.

``You can really tell which kids have very competitive parents,`` Hoffman said. ``Sometimes the kids have no choice about competing because the parent insists. And sometimes, it really ends up to be the parent`s work being judged.``

The itch to meddle in a child`s project is intense when it comes to science fairs. Veteran judges complain it`s not uncommon for the owner of a particularly slick entry to have little idea how his project works.

Third grade teacher Mavis Barkley, in charge of the science fair at Edison Elementary School in Elmhurst, has derailed the parent problem this way: ``I know exactly how I want it done . . . no prizes, no placing. It will range from the child who has done it all himself to the child whose parents did the whole thing. But that`s okay because the kids are involved and interested. It`ll be more of a fair than a contest.``

Barkley has wrestled with the competitive issue in her classroom, too:

``I like competition as long as all the kids are winners. So many kids feel badly when they`re supposed to feel good. But on the other hand, kids love competition. They get very excited.``

Judges worry about rewarding kids whose parents have done the work, but this can penalize very talented children. If a work is too good, judges may wrongly dismiss it as a parent`s effort.

There are other problems associated with contests apart from screening out parents` work. For example, is it fair to pit a 1st grader against a 3rd grader, as many contests do? Is it wise to try to judge a creative effort?

Isn`t that a totally subjective decision?