Week 4 Children Need to Play, Sticks and Stones, Working at McDonalds

Children Need to Play, Not Compete: In this essay, Jessica Statsky is arguing that competition is “neither satisfying nor beneficial to children.” I personally don’t think this is true. I play tennis and I am very competitive because I hate to lose. But when I lose I use that emotion to work harder and improve my game. My coach is also very competitive so he will do his best to prepare the team for matches the best he can but ultimately it’s our job to go out there and play. He will yell at us if we are doing something wrong but it’s only to make us better. I also think that if you are playing a team sport it’s not fair for the other players who want to win if your attitude is laid back. If you are the type of person who is playing “for fun” and there are players who want to win it’s not fair. Statsky brings up the point that if kids are competitive and they lose they will have psychological problems, which is true but it also helps build character. It teaches kids that life isn’t perfect, that you will win some and lose some but you shouldn’t use that as a reason to give up.

Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names: I didn’t really see the point in this essay. I have never actually thought about the name of a sports team. Richard Estrada believes that naming sports teams for ethnic groups is detrimental. His two reasons are it treats people like team mascots and it singles out a politically weak group. One argument he claims is that ethnic group leaders are too inclined to cry wolf in alleging racial insensitivity. I don’t think anyone really cares about the names of sports team. I think they are more interested in how they play and how well they are doing during their season.

Working at McDonald’s: When I started reading this story I thought Amitai Etzioni was going to talk about how bad McDonalds is for kids because they will get fat. I think it would have been more interesting to read about how healthy McDonalds is as opposed to reading about jobs teenagers have. I have never actually worked so I don’t have any personal experiences but I think it is good for people to work while in high school. Because not only are they making cash but it also looks good on college application. It looks good that the kid is able to do well in school while working.