Amos - There are problems with promoting competition in public schools.

#1 - It promotes cheating, lying, bullying

#2 - Children living in poverty are unable to compete on an equal playing field with those from 'privileged' backgrounds

#3 - Parents are more likely to exert undue pressure on their children when the educational environment stresses competition

#4 - It teaches that competition is good in all aspects of life

#5 - It does not promote positive team work

In a system that teaches co-operative learning there are many benefits

#1 - Lying, cheating and bullying are pointless - no reward

#2 - All children are given the opportunity to learn. They learn best from each other anyway.

#3 - Parents have no need to exert undue pressure

#4 - Co-operation does not lead to exploitation of others

#5 - Employers are more interested in positive team members than they are in students that excel. "A" students often have poor social skills.

Many of the public schools in Canada promote co-operative learning but it hasn't hurt the academic standards at all. In fact, Canadian education has an excellent international reputation. I have never known a teacher or a school to cater "to the lowest common denominator." I have known them to be all inclusive.

The incentive for excellence in co-operative learning is always doing your personal best or even competing against yourself to do better than you did last time. The reward is contributing your ideas, considering the ideas of others and achieving concensus. This is what is needed in the world today. A system that promotes individual excellence also promotes getting there at the expense of others. The reward is, of course, material gain. Therein lies the basis of Western stupidity.

Isn't friendship, healthy family relationships, good neighbors and a sense of balance and well being more valuable?