The modern approach to child development seems to be to tell very child he or she is very talented at x, and a “winner”, and to give participation trophies and prizes out like confetti. So pervasive is this phenomenon that trophy and award sales in the US and Canada are worth $3 billion a year. (Based on an opinion article in the New York Times, September 27th).

While winning an occasional ward can be a motivator, research has shown that non- stop recognition can actually lead to under-achievement. Constantly told how wonderful their are, children implode at the first tough hurdle or failure. In fact, this has been linked to a sharp rise in cheating. Those who are out-performed give up and for those who automatically get an award there is no point in trying to improve.

The idea that everyone must always win is ridiculous. Give an award by all means to the top of the class, but keep that precious award dangling before other eyes to encourage them to do as well.

Were Epicurus alive today I think he would pronounce on the mass awards to be immoderate and remind us that not everyone is talented and highly intelligent. Those who are not good sportsmen or who are non-academic will have other attributes that others in the class do not have. The task of a teacher is to discover what those are.