I was recently reminded about the type of real world competition that we should be preparing our students for.
I was listening to Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Institute Director, Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, discuss a project that will see a grade 5-7 student experiment selected from West Vancouver and be carried out in microgravity by astronauts at the International Space Station. Our students, working in teams, will each create an experiment – the number of entries will be short-listed to eventually three that will be sent to the Smithsonian where a team of experts will select the experiment that will be carried out in space. Dr. Goldstein was making the case that the process of being selected (or not) was an important part of the learning. Students need to understand that part of being a scientist is competing for research dollars. One does not just show up and announce she is a scientist and start doing experiments. This is the competition of the real world -working in teams on a project and competing for selection.
This project reminds me of a similar type of experience we are offering students – YELL(Young Entrepreneurship Leadership Launchpad). Through this program, students connect to accomplished entrepreneurs in both profit and non-profit sectors, learning about communication, presentation skills, branding, marketing and other core skills. They then turn their attention to solving a real world problem and work with a mentor in the community that leads to a venture challenge and participation in a Provincial Business Plan Competition. Again, the process reflects the real world of business.
Of course, these types of opportunities are not new. Particularly in elective areas, we have a rich history of real world competition. For example, our visual arts students have long been competing for placement in art shows and galleries.
We do still romanticize the “Jeopardy” like competitions of schools of the past. The Scripps National Spelling Bee, for example, is covered on live US National television. While yes, spelling is important, and factual knowledge is important, the competitions are holdovers from a time when the content one knew was king. Spelling, for spelling sake, is a very isolated skill. More and more it is the application of what one knows that matters. The thirst for real world relevancy is why students creating experiments that will be tested in space or starting businesses that will face feedback from the community are so enticing.
I wrote several years ago about how my teaching had changed – increasingly it has been about trying to create real world opportunities for students. It is these type of opportunities that seem to be generating so much excitement with students in our schools.
I hear competition is disappearing from school. Not true. It just may not look the same as a generation ago.
We may not rank and sort students as much as we used to – but competition is not disappearing, in some ways it is hopefully becoming more real.
cultureofyes.ca 
Great share! I agree that the competitions are evolving to better reflect the real world – with different types/levels of competitions (I think of some music programs whose goals are to go to nationals; others who want to be the opening act for a local festival) and the importance of choice. I love it when kids choose to enter the competitive fields and know what the stakes are – kinda like when I’ve gone into job “competitions” and know that it’s not always about the best winning, real world competitions so often look for ‘the right fit at the right time’. Looking forward to seek which project is the ‘right fit’ to get into space!
Thanks Ian. I do like how much more real some of these competitions feel. To link it to the recent discussion on trophies (which I thought was overblown), the beauty of these type of competitions for students is the rewards flow naturally out of the competition. We don’t need to give anyone a trophy is this event.
I totally agree with the evolution of competition. I think real world context is essential. Spelling for spelling’s sake, however, is not the whole extent of spelling bees. The students that compete at the highest level have an understanding of etymology beyond that of most university level scholars. They learn root words, language of origin, context and pronunciation variables that are in a way as much an art form as many of the fine arts. Spelling bees also offer exposure to both study skills and competition experience, and opportunity to exercise the “memory muscles” for building neural pathways. Real world competition, definitely. But old-fashioned activities like spelling bees can have their place too. (For the record, I am also a lover of cursive writing. Live dangerously.)
A fair comment on the depth connected with high level spelling competitions but I think that one of the reasons we like them so much is that they remind us of our own schooling – where we would be given a list of words weekly to memorize. I won’t reopen the cursive writing discussion (at least not this week :))