A School without Competition: What possibilities?

[omar@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Omar Seguna)]

      Competition is not only undesirable but it is also not
effective.  Competition increases social differences and
stereotyping.  Children will tend to take lower risks with less fear
of failure.  Many kids try the easiest way and achieve points.  Fear
of failure may lead to lack of responding.  Children may tend to
become lazy and unmotivated. 

    Punishments do not solve conflicts.  Rather they hide the problem.
 In fact, the child stops or submit to the teacher's ideas.  The same
thing happens in man-woman relationships, where violence occurs. 
Violence does not solve the conflict between the couple.  Rather, one
of the partners submits to the ideas of the other.  


The process of educating and schooling
_______________________________________

To understand how the post-secondary school affects the society, it is
very important to look at the whole system in general.  I devided our
system of education into three stages:  the primary stage, the
secondary stage, and the post-secondary stage.  

In my analysis of the first stage, I observed that our educational
system seeks for more competition.  It is very difficult to teach the
children co-operate with each other while they are caught in the trap
of competition.

During the secondary stage, students pass through the process of
de-satelization from their parents.  Influenced by our culture, boys
tend to be more aggressive and girls more caring.  Many agencies
over-emphasise the importance of the physical aspect of the human
being, who is made up of several other aspects.  Media, which is
dominated by commercialism, presents the male figure as muscular and
aggressive.  On the other hand, the female is presented as beautiful
with a ?perfect? body frame.  Influenced by media, stronger boys and 
beautiful girls tend to be superior.   

The third stage, or the post-secondary stage, is associated with
youths, and youths are associated with drugs, discos and commercial
music.  It is a built-up of the former two stages.  Considering the
three stages, I came to a conclusion that there is no behavioural
conformity.  However, there is a cultural reproduction of modernist
values which disturb more the people who are suffering from lack of
appreciation.


A New road towards Equality
____________________________


Previously we used to stereotype our society into different ?types? of
people; the productive, white, black, men, women, handicaps and
elderies. This occured due to the functions of the society.  In our
Schools many children used to think that the teacher knows
everything, and he is transmitting this information to his students. 
The banking concept means that there is no involvement in the
classroom and less responsibility on the part of the student. 
Initiative is discouraged and students are not involved.  If there is
no involvement, the teacher is not really teaching, but he is
indoctrinating his students.  

In my opinion child centred education played a major role in our
society, because it is inevitable.  It is not a matter of giving more
importance to the children because previously they were neglected. I
think that there is a more social and economic reason.  We are
thinking of a society where all the parts participate.  If the parts
are strong than the whole state will be powerful.  Previously the
reproductive?s sphere was considred as the women?s.  Now, both men
and women are participating in the productive sphere of labour,
exploiting more the human resources and sharing the responsabilities.
 In the near future, even people with special needs will produce. 
They will not live on social services only, and work will raise their
self-esteem. 

Participation
_____________

 We can say that participation prepares children to face the world. 
Our world is ever changing.  Learning how to learn being autonomous
in your thoughts and action equips us to cope with changes by helping
us more effieciently to re-learn and to re-orientate ourselves in
changed circumstances.

                                                   Omar Seguna