Author: Julia Patrick

There are better ways to disagree – why the “fetish of assertion” makes us all losers

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As Theresa May’s deal emits its last gasp, Remainers and Leavers continue their bitter war of words, fuelled by the media – “Brexit Party finances get shake-down” for some is “Attack on Farage is Affront to Democracy” for others. Corbyn’s appeal to both sides of the divide has failed as voters retreat into their corners. But even within the Remainer camp, tribal allegiances and resentments are running high, facilitated by social media. The complicated voting mechanics of the European Elections have led some to react angrily to suggestions of tactical voting, intended (it’s argued) to maximise Remain candidate chances.

The country is at an impasse. Life feels fraught and judgement is everywhere. Those with different views seem to be talking past each other and common ground has never appeared further away. A great example of this was John Humphrys’ recent interview of Green MP Caroline Lucas, during which he doggedly and repeatedly ignored her case for Remain as necessary for climate action. He simply wasn’t listening. We are seeing a vicious circle in which argumentative attacks make us cling ever more desperately to our tribes. This “fetish of assertion” [1] makes losers of us all.

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Ranking our children helps nobody – which is why Singapore is ditching it

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Years ago, I remember a friend telling me about her first parent evening. Eager to hear about her daughter’s progress, she asked, “So how is she doing?” – “She’s doing fine, exactly as she should be doing,” the teacher replied. My friend left feeling dissatisfied. What she really wanted to know, of course, was how her daughter was doing compared to everyone else. But, over the years, the teacher and her colleagues stood their ground – until SATs came along and gave parents the comparison they wanted, much to the detriment of many children.

Discussions of grades and rankings tend to focus – rightly – on mental health concerns. But ranking also harms learning. Children who are ranked or openly graded (and can therefore compare) care hugely about their perceived relative performance and much less about what they’ve learnt or how they can find out more and grow their learning. Whether it’s grades, house points or stickers, if it can be compared, it will be. And as parents, we often make matters worse by asking, “so how did it go?” meaning “how did you do?” rather than “what did you learn?”. Any comparative grading (e.g. school prizes) or ranking “shifts the focus from learning (what students are doing) to achievement (how well they’re doing it) but also teaches students to regard their peers not as friends or allies but as potential obstacles to their own success,” according to education expert Alfie Kohn.

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“THE MOST epic polar competition since Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott” – but Colin O’Brady and Louis Rudd’s traverse of Antarctica was not about winning

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Here’s a story to brighten our dark January days. As a turbulent 2018 drew to a close, two men achieved what no-one has done before: they crossed the Antarctic continent from coast to coast, each alone, unsupported and unassisted. US adventure athlete Colin O’Brady and British Army Captain Louis Rudd set off on 3 November 2018 (one mile apart), each pulling a 150kg sled which included tent and sleeping bag as well as all food and fuel supplies for the two month journey. They braved 30-mile-an-hour headwinds, sub-40C temperatures and whiteouts, along with a treacherous terrain in which crevasses and ice waves posed constant danger. Crossing 940 miles, O’Brady reached his destination after 54 days on 26 December, Rudd two days later. Through the unimaginable physical and mental strain, they experienced moments of elation and awe. On day 40, O’Brady wrote:”SOUTH POLE!!! I made it!!! What a day. I expected to be happy reaching the South Pole, but today has quite honestly been one of the best days of my entire life.” And Rudd posted on day 53: “The sun came out; blue skies and then the peaks of the Transantarctic mountains, which I haven’t seen at all all day, but I knew were close, all lit up before me. It was fantastic.”

Both men, whilst obviously experienced and determined, were driven by deeply personal experiences. Rudd hoped to honour his late friend and mentor Henry Worsley, who attempted the traverse in 2016 but about 100 miles from the finish succumbed to an infection, from which he ultimately died. Rudd carried Worsley’s family crest flag on his journey.

O’Brady had suffered serious burn injuries to his legs as a youngster and has spoken widely about this early lesson in overcoming adversity through re-learning to walk, one step at a time. Since then, he has set himself, and achieved, many challenging adventure goals, including running a triathlon (which he won) and scaling each continent’s highest peak (which he did in record time). He has also set up a not-for-profit company through which he shares his experiences to inspire others. He talks of his desire to inspire “kids to dream big. … Set a goal, take the first steps, the chair is right in front of you. When you feel like giving up, put your boots back on.”

Despite these personal stories, the US and UK media were quick to frame the expeditions as a contest, “an epic race” between “dueling adventurers”. Continue reading →

Do prizes kill creativity?

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Who wins is what matters. This week, Donna Strickland was hailed as the third ever woman to win the Nobel Prize for Physics. Much of the media coverage talked up the historical significance of Strickland’s gender, showing less interest in the substance of her work (research on laser beams). Of course the relative lack of female Nobel Prize winners is newsworthy, and its discussion positive and necessary. But the story illustrates the point that prizes are seen as the ultimate validation of scientific endeavour. Never mind that you have made a life-changing discovery, a public prize is what ultimately wins most adulation, attention and prestige. Commenting on the science Nobel prizes more generally, the Observer’s Science Editor Robin McKie questions their value: “[C]ritics claim the award is now out of step with modern collaborative research methods”. The prizes, he argues, do not reflect the reality of modern scientific cooperation. Worse, perhaps, they create a false public impression of the value of scientific research.

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The power of trust

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Whether the Brexit stand-off between Theresa May and Michel Barnier, or Trump’s trade war with China – finding the most effective strategy to achieve a the best outcome for all often seems less important than entrenching in self-interest.

A look at Noughties TV game show Golden Balls reminds us of the importance of trust, and the dangers of pure tit-for-tat. Golden Balls is probably best known for the game in which two contestants, after discussion, simultaneously and secretely have to decide whether to split or “steal” the prize money. If both decide to split, the money is divided equally. If one decides to steal and the other to split, the person who chooses “steal” wins all the money. And if both decide to steal, neither receives anything.

The game was highlighted in the recent BBC4 programme “The Joy of Winning”, presented by Dr Hannah Fry. The programme features one of the most surprising episodes of Golden Balls, when contestant Nick Corrigan used an unexpected strategy in that final game. He assured his fellow contestant that he was definitely going to “steal” but promised to share the winnings after the show. The other contestant protested, but Nick insisted. In the event both Nick’s and his fellow contestant’s decisions were revealed to be “split”, to everyone’s surprise.

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It is only a game – why sports should not be about winning

~ Julia Patrick ~ 1 Comment

George Orwell wrote: “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.” (1) Even more depressingly, perhaps, sports sociologist George Sage claimed that “organised sport has nothing at all to do with playfulness – fun, joy, self-satisfaction – … sports are instruments not for human expression, but of social stasis”. (2)

These views might sound overly dramatic and slightly heavy. Sports psychologist Terry Orlick summed up America’s approach to sports in the 1970s in simpler terms: “We do not teach children to love sports; we teach them to win games”. (3)

Many of us today, by contrast, seem to believe that there is not enough emphasis on competition and winning. A headline last year in the Guardian asked, “Are ‘non-competitive sports days’ really better for school kids?” The article reports that 86% of parents questioned did not approve of the idea. David Cameron famously condemned the ‘all-must-have-prizes’ culture in school sports, and education more generally, and called for a return to more competitive sports.

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Our schools – another way

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Our schools are a microcosm of the role of competition in our society. They show how competition becomes increasingly institutionalised, normal and expected as we grow up. We turn from playful, inquisitive and creative toddlers into teenagers and adults who are compared and ranked against each other, measured against standardised benchmarks and conditioned to do “better” than others if we want to succeed.

Most people would probably agree that some change over the course of our childhood is justified or necessary. We try (and often fail) not to compare our babies and toddlers, accepting that every child develops at their own pace. At the same time, we accept that when we leave school, in most cases training and education institutions or workplaces will need to differentiate and select to some degree based on our school record.

But these assumptions do not begin to answer a whole range of questions. For example, what skills and aptitudes do individual employers need in today’s world? Are these the same as those our society will need to thrive into the future? How do we best capture and reflect this range of aptitudes and attidudes? How do we measure and recognise effort and motivation compared to talent? How do we best nurture all of these so everyone has the opportunity to discover and develop their aptitudes and interests and engage fully in society?

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Danes don’t brag

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In my quest to understand the role of competitiveness in happy Nordic society, I’ve touched on the cultural phenomenon of hygge. I was intrigued by another Danish (and more generally Nordic) concept that may shed some light on the Danes’ high levels of wellbeing: “Janteloven”, or Jante’s law. I learnt that Danes don’t brag.

Jante’s law describes a set of cultural norms articulated in Aksel Sandemose’s satirical 1933 novel A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks, all based on the idea that no-one should think they are special or any better than anyone else. It has been described as promoting an “aggressive modesty”.

But what exactly does Jante’s Law mean in practice and how reflective is it of Danish life? And if so, might it have something to do with competition and Danish happiness?

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Brexit – the good, the bad and the no deal

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Why a cooperative negotiation strategy might be more effective than a competitive one

Theresa May would prefer no deal to a “bad deal”, Jeremy Corbyn believes no deal is a bad deal.

Under the Tories, a post-Brexit future for UK without a deal with the EU is conceivable. A Conservative government would be happy to walk away from negotiations if their demands are not (or not sufficiently) met. Under Labour, we would expect the Government to do everything in its power to reach a deal with the EU.

On the face of it, these two approaches represent two classically opposing negotiation styles, on the one hand a competitive, or “positional” strategy, on the other a cooperative, or “interest-based” one. Continue reading →

Happiness and competition – the case of the Nordics

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The Norwegians have managed to knock the Danes off the top spot – just. The recently released World Happiness Report 2017 identifies Norwegians as the happiest people on earth, very closely followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland, with other Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) not far behind. The report identifies six factors that explain international differences in happiness, and where Norway and other Nordic countries score highly: income, healthy life expectancy, social support (having someone to count on in times of trouble), freedom to make life decisions, generosity and trust or absence of corruption.

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