SOME GOTTA WIN AND SOME GOTTA LOSE

I played basketball in high school. Our team was not very good. I point that out because we had a squad of cheerleaders who either didn’t know we weren’t very good, or just didn’t care. I can still remember being on that court and hearing them scream and yell as if we were the state champions. I loved our cheerleaders.

Back then cheerleaders were all girls and they also were the cutest of the girls in the school. But, they were also athletic, talented, and energetic. They had to compete to make the squad and not everyone who tried out made it. The same was true for all of the sports teams. Some made the team and some did not. Those who didn’t make the teams managed to go on about their lives probably finding something else to participate in. Life goes on. So, what happened to this very fair tradition?

In Hampton, New Jersey, the East Hampton high school has passed a new rule that says everyone who tries out for cheerleader makes the team. Their ruling is that if anyone fails to be accepted on the squad, then all must be disqualified. It makes no difference whether one is athletic, talented, capable, or anything else, they either all make the team or no one makes the team. This happened because one parent was upset that her little girl was not accepted so she complained loudly enough that the new rule was instituted.

What does this kind of nonsense teach our children? The primary lesson is that regardless of your effort or your qualifications, you will always be awarded the prize of success. When that youngster gets out of school and faces the real world, he or she is going to have a terrible awakening. It just doesn’t work that way. Some gotta win and some gotta lose. That’s the way of the world. In our lives we have victories and we have losses. Both teach us lessons. I know in my life I have learned much more from my failures than I ever learned from my victories. Failure helps us appreciate our victories more. A life with all success and no failure would be boring to say the least. Life is all about learning and that learning never ends.

What is the school’s responsibility concerning preparing young people for life in the real world? Granted they must teach the basics of reading, writing, and math. But it doesn’t end there. They are also teaching social responsibilities, or at least they are supposed to be. Competing for success in the classroom translates to competing for success after school is over.

In school, youngsters are taken away from their homes and the safety of that environment and placed with others who are in the same position. As adults we leave the safety of our parents’ homes to face the real world on our own. We must be prepared for that experience. Schools have a major role in that preparation. In the real world one must compete for jobs and for success. It is not guaranteed. If youngsters face their after-school lives believing that they are owed success, they will learn very quickly that the world doesn’t work that way.

Liberals view this as unfair. They apparently think everyone should have an equal outcome regardless of their talent or effort. This is the genesis of the participation trophies. Win or lose, everybody gets a prize. Again, it just doesn’t work that way.

Consider an elk herd. The strongest bull fights for the right to breed the cows in the herd. This is nature’s way of insuring that the strongest genes are passed on to the next generation of elk. In our world the smartest, most talented, and the most capable succeed. Those who sit around waiting to be given their trophies usually fail. Sorry liberals, but it is just the way of the world. Some gotta win, and some gotta lose. Deal with it, okay?

Ron Scarbro.