COMPETITION OR CO-OPERATION?

I remember my Economics Professor in University lecturing me on the necessity for healthy competition in the marketplace. It was, he said, a vital ingredient for the economy of a country to grow and expand.

- BY GOOLBAI GUNASEKARA

Since I was not one of his brightest pupils I will hesitate to comment on whether time has proved him right or wrong but I can say with complete confidence that in classrooms of today the wrong kind of competition can sometimes kill progress.

Great educators have earlier held that competition results in excellence - the thinking being that each child wishes to do better than others and will strive for superiority. Perhaps this held true when schools were small, populations likewise and teachers did not have more than fifteen children in a class. Not now.

Fifty years ago was a halcyon era. Parents did not ask Principals questions like these:-

“Who got the highest marks for the promotion tests?”

“Did she/he cheat/copy?”

OR

“Do her parents know the teacher?”

“The teacher's son is in the class so she must have discussed the questions with him.”

Parents have no faith in teachers any longer. The competitive spirit is so strong suspicion among parents is at a premium. Competitiveness begins early. I have seen it at its most vindictive in a young class.

Here is a personal experience

Teachers of the school I run are forbidden to give tuition to students in their classes. One parent alleged that the Form Teacher of Year One was breaking that rule and giving tuition in her own home. I told the complaining mother that it was extremely unlikely anyone would even want to tutor such