Trophy Culture: Everyone Gets A Trophy

Today in class it was brought to my attention something that I had never thought and to me seemed to make a lot of sense, and that was the "Trophy Culture." At first, it seems like a harmless thing to do, give every kid who is in some sort of youth group/team a trophy for participation, even though that team may have had a terrible season. I was part of a youth team organization and just like the kids in the video I, as well as my team members, received what was basically a participation trophy. At that moment, I thought to myself why we received a trophy, we didn't win a championship and everyone was getting the exact same one. It was interesting to see how the mothers fully approved to this idea and some moms argued that it was good to give all the kids trophies because it would make them feel special and it would boost their self- esteem.

I disagree with this idea because I think that by the adults trying to make every kid feel special by giving all of them trophies, they are actually doing the opposite because every single child is getting the exact same trophy. This could also lead to the kid thinking that even though they do bad, in a certain thing they should be awarded something that is the way they have been raised. I think this could lead to the kid growing up and think that doing mediocre work or think failure is okay in the real world when in reality they have to face a highly-competitive world where okay is not good enough to get the trophy, job, or school they want.