You're way off...at least in terms of athletics.
As for school, the idea that everyone passes is another story.
On it's own it would be fine to give kids something for getting out there and trying sports.
But I think it's a microcosm of our society's kids feelings of en lement just for showing up. In that sense, I don't like giving a huge trophy just for trying.
I don't think the norm is a big trophy. Most of the participation trophies I've seen are about 4-5 inches tall and 90% plastic.
Giving trophies out for participating completely discounts the meaning of trophies for winning. Winning should be rewarded. Participating should be expected. It cripples compe ive spirit when a kid knows he's getting a trophy regardless of the result. Is this the right message to be sending?
At certain ages, yes. But in the early years, you don't want to run off kids that may have potential or end up enjoying the sport. Usually at these ages, they are all just randomly placed on a team. So you might have a great player on a totally ty team with a ty coach. And they might lose every game 10-0. But you want to try to get them to come back at least another year or two. As they get older, the leagues usually divide teams by their level of play. And from there, the good players end up gravitating to the top division while those that aren't so good end up in the lower. As time goes on, the very good players have the option to moving to select leagues.
But normally, at around 8 or 9, they stop with the participation trophies. But I don't know that it would matter anyway. Most kids playing sports at 10 are smart enough to know the difference between winning a division and getting a piece of trophy.
I'd even add that the teams that win the divisions don't care much about the trophies. They care more about being able to say they're number one and being able to look it up in the standings on the internet.
Trophies are a waste of space anyway. I had a whole recycling bin of them from high school. I kept the national and qualifying ones, but the regular-season trophies are all in the garbage somewhere now.
The folks at my office are always complaining how the amount of crap their kids bring home anyway that they want displayed (artwork and such). No way do I think kids need to be bringing home stupid trophies as well.
They should at least rename the "Participation Trophy" a "Losing Trophy", because essentially that is what it is. This name will remind kids that even though they got a trophy, they still lost, and the goal should always be to win. Also, the Losing Trophy should always be 5 times smaller than the trophies that the winners get. This would at least keep kids motivated to win.
maybe we're talking about 2 different situations.
The leagues in this area give every kid the same participation trophy from ages 4-7 or so. They don't officially keep score or records during the first years either. Once they start keeping scores and records, there are no participation trophies. Only 1st and 2nd place. If the 3rd place team won 75% of their games, they get a trophy also.
But for the younger ones, it's important to reward them for playing. Again, some of these kids get put on a ty team with a parent coaching. It's a beating for these kids to lose every game and not even have enough decent teammates for them to even have a chance to perform.
And I agree about trophies being a waste of space. There is a movement to go to meals instead. Something that won't break and that's easy to store.
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