Children should learn how to compete or should be taught to cooperate to become more useful adults?

Some people think that children should learn how to compete, but others think that children should be taught to cooperate to become more useful adults. Express some reasons for both views and give your own opinions.

It is a highly debatable issue whether children should learn to compete or co-operate in order to become productive citizens of society. In my opinion, both competition and cooperation are necessary virtues of life and children should learn both. What is more important is to teach children where they need to compete and where they need to cooperate.

Competition is very important in life. Children can be taught to compete when they prepare for the exams or when they play solo sports like athletics. They have to learn to compete to excel in studies or win a race or any athletic event. This virtue comes handy in adult life. For example, when they do any business, they have to compete with other businessmen to succeed in business. Definitely, successful businessmen are useful adults in society. 

On the other hand, there are many fields where cooperation is needed. Children can be taught this virtue in the sports field when they play team sports like cricket and hockey. They can also be taught cooperation when teachers give them group assignments in studies. This virtue also makes them useful adults because they have to cooperate in many fields of life. For instance, when they work as scientists to research the treatment of diseases like cancers and AIDS then it can never be a one-man show. It has to be a joint effort. Software developers also have to work as a team to bring benefits to all of us who use technology nowadays. 

There are also situations where both competition and cooperation are needed simultaneously. For example, when children do team sports, they learn to cooperate with their team members and at the same time they learn to compete with the opposite team. Similarly, in adult life they have to learn to cooperate with their country-men to compete with those of other countries. We all know that today’s era is highly competitive and the big planet Earth has shrunk to a global village. For example, Indian auto industries have merged to compete with the German and Japanese industries. So, competition and cooperation go hand in hand. 

To put it in a nutshell, I pen down saying that, it is clear that children should be taught both – to compete as well as cooperate and more importantly where in life they have to apply these attributes.

Some people think that the main purpose of schools is to teach children to become good citizens and workers, rather than benefiting them as individuals?

Some people think that the main purpose of schools is to teach children to become good citizens and workers, rather than benefiting them as individuals. Agree/ Disagree?
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The mission of education children is far from easy. Some people believe that at school, the inculcation of ethical lessons in children to become useful citizens is necessary while others claim tha...t each individual should learn to benefit himself first at school. I partly agree with the latter view for the following reasons.

First, it is argued that the priority of education of the youngsters towards their needs is psychologically conducive to their learning. It is likely that with no restriction which entails them to follow moral codes of the society, they feel relaxed and study more effectively. Is it true? Can a class achieve its high efficaciousness when each individual, because of putting their needs over others, for instance, goes to class late or forgets to do home work? Only in a disciplined environment which emphasizes their obedience to the community code can they learnt the lesson to get along with others and become confident in their work environment in the future.

The second reason in support of individualism in education at school is to encourage children to find out their inner desire. It is argued that not being affected by the herd voice, they discover what truly want in this life and come up with revolutionary inventions to change the world, like the case of Thomas Edison. However, under no circumstance can such inventions gain the support if they are only to serve the individual need of the creators and some minorities. Facts have shown that their success roots from the community purpose that is to enhance the quality of life for all. Another point is that if individualism was to be worshipped, for the sake of profit, youngsters could become businessmen without ethics or monopoly- like environment in business would take shape, leading to the prevalence of low-quality products. Also, when it comes to the solution to the global issues, say, environment, epidemics and political conflicts, can the individuals who only benefit themselves play a part?

All things considered, the purpose of education should harmonize between individual and community needs to produce citizens who can follow the moral code to become useful citizens, and at the same time, pursue their own interest to add more color to their world.