To Compete or not to Compete...

One thing that can't be when it comes to the educational system and those who have influence it, is that they are very effective at teaching students about contradictions.  A prime example of this is when it comes to "competition."  A few weeks ago I was with a group of friends and the discussion of education came up and one of the people involved in the conversation was a first grade teacher and shared a story that I could not believe.  She explained that her principal was requiring that the teachers keep a bulletin board, visible to all students and anyone who entered the room, with a list of the students ranked according to test scores.  The thought process was that this would drive competition amongst the students and motivate them to perform better.  Parents would also be able to see where there child ranked against others in the class.  A few weeks have past now and I recently found out that after a great deal of pushback from the teachers, the principal modified the request to where the bulletin board would only contain the students ID numbers.  Is that really the extent that schools have gone to get students to perform well on tests?
This made me think, wasn't there just a heated debate about whether or not youth sports should keep score and the impact of winning and losing had on children? Critics of competitive youth sports believe that they were becomming far too competitive and putting too much pressure on children to win as opposed to just "do their best and have fun."  However many of those same critics support the current educational reforms which are clearly competition based.  So are we trying to teach students that competition is good or that it's bad?

Educational reforms today are framed in a manner that competition will solve our problems and author Kevin Kumashiro points to programs such as Race to the Top and school-choice programs that presume schools will improve when schools, teacher preparation programs, educational services, and even teachers compete.  So how do we explain that competition against other schools is acceptable when it comes to test scores but not acceptable when it comes to a football or basketball game? Isn't the pressure of performing well on tests or risk losing your teacher and perhaps your school much more pressure than losing a ball game?  Although I don't agree with the standards-focused framework of the recent educational reforms, if those reforms are promoting the importance of competition in the classroom, then this certainly should be echoed throughout other activities including sports.  After all, the real world is a compeititive market place and the minute they apply for their first job outside of school they will realize how important it is to be better than somebody else and stand out from the crowd.