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 teams. Similarly, in adult life, they have to learn to cooperate with their countrymen to compete with those of other countries. We all know that today’s era is highly competitive and the 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.