Ask any kid to show you their trophy collection and they’ll be more than happy to point out each and every award and explain how they earned them. But we’re facing a new problem today: what are kids supposed to say when they come across their participation trophies, awards they didn’t earn at all?

In many cases, participation trophies are prizes given out to children simply for showing up to a sport or event, instead of being earned the ‘old-fashioned’ way–with effort.  They reward every kid for participating in an event, whether they stood around and talked to their friends on the field or practiced hard and won the game.  In the end, what this act of equal recognition striving to make participants feel better is really doing is expanding both the trophy cases and egos of today’s youth–both are wasteful.

Senior starter on Linganore’s basketball team Carter Schmidt said, “Giving kids these trophies teaches them that, no matter what, there should be a reward even if they don’t do their best.  People that are the best should be rewarded over those who are not the best.”

Michelle Richardson is the coach of Linganore’s Pom and Dance Team and a mother of two sons, both of whom have played soccer since a young age.

“Giving out participation trophies is a nice gesture, but kids don’t earn them,” said Richardson.  “These trophies strengthen the idea of entitlement. If kids learn that you have to work to achieve and do better, they will go on in life with that lesson. That’s a more valuable lesson than making sure they have a trophy to put on their trophy case.”

This is a philosophy Richardson shares with many other parents, including NFL linebacker James Harrison.  Though it appears that the two couldn’t be more different, Richardson and Harrison both share a value of hard work and reject the idea that participation awards should be given to all children.

After finding out his two sons had received participation trophies, Harrison announced on Instagram that he would be sending them back because his sons had not actually earned them.

Harrison justified his actions by saying, “I’m not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned and I’m not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best…cause sometimes your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better.”

“It was a valuable lesson,” Richardson said of the controversy surrounding Harrison.  “He’s someone who has worked hard to achieve what he’s achieved, and he’s just trying to instill those same values in his kids, which is important.”

Both Harrison and Richardson make a valid point–the lessons children are taught when they’re young influence their actions when they’re older, and the lesson participation trophies are teaching America’s children is that everything will be handed to them in life, regardless of how hard they work.

Co-author of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing Ashley Merryman says, “I would rather have kids realize that there are no stakes and they can make mistakes and move on then have them find out the first time in their lives, when they are in their teens and 20s, that not everyone is going to give them a trophy.”

When children grow up feeling like “winners,” the habit can be difficult to break.  This attitude doesn’t hold up well outside of households and recreation soccer leagues because coddling and sugar-coating aren’t in the real world’s vocabulary.  

“Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, found that kids respond positively to praise; they enjoy hearing that they’re talented, smart and so on,” says Merryman.  “But after such praise of their innate abilities, they collapse at the first experience of difficulty.”

People who think they’ll be given a job just because they want it or show up to an interview, or even simply because they have a degree, are going to be disappointed and discouraged when they are unemployed or settling for a job that doesn’t satisfy them.  Students who think they should receive an A or B grade because they sit in class are going to find themselves struggling when their teachers and professors expect real effort from them.

Richardson said, “If kids learn that you have to work to achieve and do better, they will go on in life with that lesson. That’s a more valuable lesson than making sure they have a trophy to put on their trophy case.”

Not only will laziness stick with children into the future, but the motivation to improve and succeed will greatly suffer.

In the New York Times article “Losing Is Good for You,” Merryman says, “If children know they will automatically get an award, what is the impetus for improvement? Why bother learning problem-solving skills, when there are never obstacles to begin with?  Demoralized by their failure, they say they’d rather cheat than risk failing again.”

Participation trophies not only decrease motivation and increase narcissism, but they’re almost worthless to their recipients over time.

Merryman estimates that trophy and award sales are now a $3 billion-a-year industry in the United States and Canada.  With all that money spent on trophies, it seems like a shame that someday (sooner or later) they fill the local dump.  The only lasting thing about these trophies is the fact that it will take centuries for them to decompose.

Schmidt said, “I threw all of my participation trophies out.  They didn’t mean as much to me as my other trophies because they didn’t make me feel like I had achieved anything.”

If participation trophies don’t even hold significant value with the same people they are intended to inspire, then why are schools and sports leagues so adamant about giving them out?  It seems to me like these trophies are a short-term solution to raising children’s self-esteem with long-term consequences for American society.

The answer to all the controversy is simply to eliminate the use of participation trophies in competitions and sports events.  America needs to remind its children of the hard work and determination the country was built on and reinforce these characteristics as strong values in its society.  The elimination of participation trophies could be the first step in doing just that.