By Selwyn Duke

Our society’s attack upon competition is intensifying, and it breeds some truly ridiculous policies. Years ago already, a soccer league in Massachusetts banned keeping score in 10-and-under tournaments in deference to the feelings police. Some schools have eliminated the designations “Valedictorian” and “Salutatorian” because they’re too non-egalitarian. More recently, a Rhode Island school canceled its long tradition of an honors night (the decision has since been reversed following an outcry) because it was too “exclusive,” and, not to be outdone, a Michigan elementary school just distributed a flyer stating that the “urge to win” at their annual field day should be minimized because all students are “winners.”

There are obvious points to be made here, such as how this anti-competition mentality unjustly denies achievers their due. It’s also true that if you reward something — and excellence is no exception — you get more of it; if you don’t, you get less. But in our effort to protect losers’ feelings, we forget the other victims in this lunacy:

The losers themselves.

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