We’ve also got to weigh two conflicting impacts of a competition:
1) competitions can benefit a class by motivating students to work hard and get excited about a topic in preparation for the competition, but at the same time
2) competitions can be harmful to a class by dispiriting ‘non-winners’ – who will likely be the majority of the class – once the competition is over and the top few winners have been congratulated.
Another Problematic Consequence of Competitions
We’ve also got to weigh two conflicting impacts of a competition:
1) competitions can benefit a class by motivating students to work hard and get excited about a topic in preparation for the competition, but at the same time
2) competitions can be harmful to a class by dispiriting ‘non-winners’ – who will likely be the majority of the class – once the competition is over and the top few winners have been congratulated.