Improve Self Esteem – Cancel Competition for Kids

Again from the “this-make-absolutely-no-sense” file. The mayor of Beechwood, Ohio has elected to cancel the Little League All-Star game to avoid hurting the self esteem of the kids who are not selected for the team.

He’s not kidding. First, we stopped keeping score because we did not want the losers to feel bad. Now, we can’t single out the best performers and recognize them for being at the top of their sport.

Here’s the full story, and an excerpt. …

In March, Beachwood Mayor Merle Gordon sent a letter to parents of children involved in the Little League program stating the city was canceling the All-Star game based on information provided in an article written by the founder of the National Alliance for Youth Sports, Fred Engh.

The article suggested that All-Star games take away from sportsmanship and hurts the self esteem of players, especially younger players.

In the article Engh states, “There’s nothing like sticking a dagger into a youngster’s self-esteem the first season he plays the sport by letting him know that he’s not good enough or considered worthy to be part of this elite group of teammates. That’s not the message we want to send to children who are already less active and more obese than any previous generation in history.”

What a load of crap. At what point do you think it would be ok to introduce these kids to the fact that some people are smarter, faster and better looking than they are?

No more valedictorians, no more grades and no more All-Star teams. This type of attitude will completely destroy the American education system – it’s already pretty close – and will probably start to cause serious issues for U.S. businesses.

We’re educating a new generation of wimps.