Good Essay On On The Correlation Of Competition And Happiness

The supposed demerits of people embracing competing attitudes when dealing with their peers are present in Theodore Isaac Rubin’s Competition and Happiness. According to the author, rather than bring out the best in people, competitions do the opposite since the win or lose situation can only nurture unattractive qualities: nobody wants to lose, yet everyone wants to win. After all, the results can only encompass losers and winners; hence, unless a person reaches the required targets, such as good grades in school and attractive figures at work, he or she automatically loses the winning title. To that end, Rubin insists that competition can only be damaging to self-development and for that reason, societies and institutions ought to discourage its appeal among individuals. At a personal level, Rubin’s views are disagreeable because competition does not prevent people from living happily; on the contrary, healthy competition acts as a stimulating and preparatory agent as it equips people with the right attitude for life.
First, Rubin asserts that competition limits peoples’ ability to lead happy lives by keeping parents from realizing the accomplishments of their young ones. To support his views, Rubin begins by pointing out that a person’s genetic makeup does not determine whether he or she would become competitive and instead, older generations teach the younger ones such behavior and encourage the latter group to do the same with later generations. In that sense, competition becomes “a residual of a primitive past”, and not a matter of instincts, as the ideas of one’s great-grandparents stand a chance to influence his or her behavior towards friends, classmates, and even workmates (Rubin 170). Next, the author compares the attitudes of medical students from the United States and those in Switzerland and as per his views, the Swiss students were better off because they did not rival against each other. In an exchange program with the Switzerland’s University of Lausanne, Rubin was part of the forty American students that were participating and in his words, the Swiss “exhibited great camaraderie” as they helped each other (171). The author goes on to inform his readers that the non-competitive medical students in Switzerland showed high proficiency as they studied for two sets of standardized government examinations under excellent instructions (Rubin 171). Finally, there is the matter of social cohesion where competitive persons compare their respective accomplishments with those of a rival to determine their next steps in life. According to Rubin, the grounds on which people compare themselves to their opponents include, to mention a few, their “earnings, position, accomplishments, notoriety, [and] possessions” (171). Consequently, instead of focusing on him or herself, an aggressive person starts to live in a “stressful, isolating and paranoid” atmosphere because he or she relies on the accomplishments of his or her peers to determine success (Rubin 171).
Still on Rubin’s views, a personal high school experience comes to mind when considering the pros and cons of having a competitive attitude in life. In high school, everything was different as classes became harder and the teachers got stricter compared to elementary and middle school. Particularly, the mathematics classes were considerably difficult to focus on, and the necessary formulas became similar to torture devices that only worked on the brain. From calculus to algebra, none of the problems made sense and expectedly, the answers were equally impossible to reach without help. Now, it became apparent that some of the students did not have the same challenges since they got the high scores in tests and even participated in the classes by working out mathematics problems on the board and answering posed questions correctly. In other words, the whole class did not face the mentioned difficulties, and the teacher was evidently blameless because as long as a fraction of the group grasped given concepts, the teaching methods were sufficient. It finally became evident that success is subject to an individual: the best school and teachers can only provide the environment and training through which one acquires an education, but the outcomes of the learning processes are beyond their influence.
The realization of how much better the other students were doing in class encouraged competitive spirits in mathematics and other subjects and within the year, high school was no longer frustrating. In that sense, the struggle to be as good as the best students assumed a motivating role as it encouraged more studies and better concentration in class lest one fell behind and failed his or her exams. Concurrently, competition promoted knowledge and by extension, brought joy to everyone who got desirable grades after attending classes and focusing their time on studies. Notably, while Rubin’s classmates became bitter rivals in Switzerland, the man cannot claim those who passed their examinations were unhappy. The problem in his case was the fact that the medical students adopted unhealthy competitiveness that manifested in sabotage and bitterness (Rubin 171).
In conclusion, it is impossible to concur with Theodore Isaac Rubin’s Competition and Happiness as rivalry motivates and prepares an individual to pursue anything that makes him or her happy. Unhealthy competition can lead to physical confrontations and sabotages; however when people channel their competitive personalities towards a more worthy cause, they have better chances of achieving their goals. Additionally, it is important for one to consider the person with whom he or she competes since too many opponents can be distractive and not all of them would be worthy. For instance, a medical and law student cannot contest for higher pay or more qualifications because they work in different circles that define success based on various certificates, licenses, and expertise. Thus, a competitive mindset can lead to happiness when one wields it correctly.