Inquiiy Bibliogiaphy

Peteison, Saiah. Peisonal Inteiview 2S 0ct. 2u1S.

I inteivieweu Ns. Peteison on the 2S
th
of 0ctobei. As an euucatoi in an
euucational enviionment, conceins with competition in euucation seem to stem
fiom giaues anu the mentality among stuuents to compete with each othei baseu off
the lettei giaue they ieceive. That stuuents aie pieoccupieu by giaues anu face
value iesults iathei than what they aie ieally leaining, uistiacting them fiom theii
own euucation. In geneially she felt that competition in euucation is both
constiuctive anu uestiuctive uepenuing on the inteiest anu stiength towaiu a
ceitain subject. Wheie in subjects that she feels stiongly about (in hei own
euucational expeiience) she became motivateu by competition, wheie as in subjects
she was less confiuent on, she became less motivateu because the competition
woulu even moie ueteiioiate hei confiuence, huiting hei euucation in that subject.
She also iemaikeu that this paiticulaily happens in a high school euucation, wheie
as in college, stuuents compete against theii selves mainly anu use theii innei
competition as a motivatoi. 0n gioup woik oi communal woik, she believes that
iueally if eveiyone was fully involveu that it woulu be a veiy constiuctive way of
leaining, howevei in hei opinion, stuuents usually put all the woik on a single
peison, while the otheis uon't woik. She also uiffeientiateu gioup woik with
communal woik wheie communal is mostly a shaiing of iueas anu ciiticism, iathei
than stiictly gioup woik.
With the sepaiation of the levels of euucation she felt that when stuuents aie
sepaiateu by theii peifoimance iate, it has the possibility to help the highei
peifoiming stuuents because they aie aiounu othei highei piefoiming stuuents,
wheie the lowei piefoiming stuuents have less of a benefit anu may even begin to
feel alienateu by it.

Reeve, }ohnmaishall, anu Euwaiu L. Beci. "Elements of the competitive situation
that affect intiinsic motivation." !"#$%&'()*+ '&- .%/)'( !$+/0%(%1+ 23(("*)& 22
(1996): 24-SS. <http:psp.sagepub.com>
Reeve anu Beci uesciibe the uiffeient aspects of competition anu how it
affects peifoimance of inuiviuuals. They useu a seiies of expeiiments conuucteu by
Beci, Betley, Kahle, Abiams anu Poiac involving to inuiviuuals of the same sex eithei
compete to complete a puzzle fastei than the othei, oi just to theii best to complete
it as quick as the can. In both instances the contiolleu won uuiing the competitive
test, anu in the non-competitive test the inuepenuent completeu the puzzle fastei
than the uepenuent. The whole puipose of this aiticle is to show that competition
among people will leau to less uesiiable outcomes than if an inuiviuual is pusheu by
intiinsic motivation, oi competition against themselves. This ielates to euucation
because in a non-competitive euucational enviionment, stuuents have uiffeient
uynamic that allow them to achieve theii best. It also shows that in an non
competitive enviionment people tenu to uo bettei because of the lack of anxiety anu
stiess.




Rich, }ohn. anu }oseph Be vitis. Competition in Euucation. Spiingfielu, Illinois:
Chailes C Thomas, 1992.
In the chaptei Neiitociacy anu Competition Bevitts anu Rich uesciibes the
iole that a meiitociacy anu competitive type euucation has on ceitain people. Be
uesciibes in this chaptei that a meiitociacy type euucation is goou because it
pioviues an euucation foi eveiyone, anu the amount they put in it, anu get out of it
will ueteimine the amount anu quality of iewaiu they will ieceive. Be also
auuiesses the aiguments against this type of euucational system. The aiguments
against meiitociacy anu completion in euucation piimaiily state that people uon't
have equal oppoitunities anu equal ciicumstances to make the competition faii.
Bevitts ietoits these allegations by saying that by making eveiyone equal woulu
iequiie laige lengths of uisabling all abilities fiom eveiyone so they woulu all be
equal (1u9). With that he also states that each peison has a uiffeient stiength foi
which they can become moie competitive in anu achieve highei. People aie bettei
anu achieve bettei accoiuing to Bevitts anu Rich in a competitive style euucation.

Smith, Natt. Peisonal Inteiview 29 0ct. 2u1S.
Natt Smith answeis a seiies of questions on how completion in euucation
has affecteu him in uiffeient instances. Bis view on competition in euucation was
that his uesiie to stiive to be bettei than the aveiage anu that sub pai aveiage is not
enough. Be says that he competes both within himself anu among othei people,
howevei iueally he feels that completion among ones self woulu be moie
constiuctive. 0n competition among giaues, he wants to bettei than eveiyone else
which makes the completion healthy, wheie as people measuie themselves by
giaues, anu in his opinion giaues uiscouiage actual leaining anu just meeting a
checklist of iequiiements hinueiing euucational giowth. 0n emotions anu anxiety
he feels that competition will cieate anxiety when goou woik is seen in othei
peoples woik, when he wants to incluue it in his own. With gioup woik, he feels that
gioup woik tenus to not woik because it falls unuei a single peison noimally, anu
he feels that he can woik bettei inuiviuually.

vonnegut, Kuit. 4'##)$%& 2"#1"#%&. Neicuiy Piess, 1961.
<www.tnellen.comcybeienghaiiison.html>

In this shoit stoiy Kuit vonnegut tells a stoiy of the 0S in 2u81 anu eveiyone
was hanuicappeu in eveiyway so that eveiyone woulu be equal. People aien't so
hanuicappeu that they cant even think, theii physical anu mental capabilities aie so
hinueieu no one can uo anything oi be anything. In the society theie is no
competition. Bowevei one man, Baiiison Beigeion who is the iueal human, uistains
of all of his given hanuicaps, anu pioclaims himself empeioi. When showing off his
ability the hanuicappeu police immeuiately kills him. With this stoiy Kuit is tiying
to show that if we let equality govein oui lives anu that completion is completely
eliminateu that eveiyone will be ieuuceu on an extiemely low level. This shows that
competition is what causes people to excel anu become theii gieatest not equality,
anu that equality will just hinuei oui abilities because we cant all be equal because
we aie all uiffeient which goes hanu in hanu with euucation.