Are You a Winner?

This week, I had the opportunity to judge the 4-H and Open rabbit and cavy classes at the Lincoln County Fair in Newport, Oregon.  This fair is what I call an “intimate event”.  It is quite small when compared to many other fairs around the country.  Most of the young people at this fair didn’t have a lot in what would be termed competitive in an ARBA show.  Quite a number of the animals were crossbred.  Nevertheless, I had a good time judging and I think the kids had a good time competing.

I’m not what you would term a “hard judge”, but having judged 4-H shows for a number of years, I’m not afraid to give Red Awards (or even White, if need be).  Though all the kids received Blues in showmanship, the majority received Red ribbons in conformation.  Not one kid cried.

The reason I say this is that over the years, I have witnessed a trend where, especially in 4-H animal shows, there is a reluctance to give out Red (and especially White) ribbons.  The rationale here seems to be that receiving less than a Blue Award is somehow damaging to the psyche of the youth.  I can only roll my eyes.

From 4-H’s conception, competition has been used as a way to teach youth agricultural and home economics skills.  As the program evolved to emphasize teaching life skills, some developmental specialists began to question whether or not competition was an appropriate tool for helping young people develop into self-directed, productive, and contributing citizens. 

I am one who firmly believes that competition is a GOOD thing, as long as it is integrally combined as a component of valuable learning experiences.  The goal of competition in 4-H should be very different from the competition in many other programs in which young people participate. All 4-H teaching/learning experiences should contribute toward achieving the goal of helping young people learn life skills so they can become self-productive and contributing citizens.  Competition should always be educational in nature.

For every Red ribbon I gave, I took the time to explain why I placed the rabbit that way.  If the rabbit was a standard breed, I opened my ARBA Standard of Perfection and explained why the animal was not consistent enough in regards to its breed standard to warrant a Blue Award.  Am I expecting a perfect rabbit?  Not by a long shot.  (There really is no such animal.)  I used my placing as a way of teaching the 4-H youth about their breed or rabbits in general.  This is the goal of competition in 4-H (or should be).

Over the years, I have seen some kids just literally crushed if they did not receive a Blue Award for their entry.  When I see a reaction like this, I automatically look toward the parent (sometimes the leader) as the source of this reaction.  Somehow, along the way, 4-H competition for some people translates into oneupmanship or the value of one child (or group over another).  I think we need to get back to basics and educate our parents and leaders on the meaning of each color of ribbon as it relates to 4-H competition…

• Blue: Excellent or very good.  This does NOT indicate perfection. The rabbit (in this case) exhibits good basic consistency with the breed standard and is in good health and condition.
• Red:  OK, but there are enough specific shortcomings found to cause the placing to drop from excellent to good.  For example, the rabbit may be overweight, underweight, have poor color, lacking type, or slightly out of condition.
• White: I may give a White Award if the rabbit has malocclusion, ear mites, is in extremely poor condition or has some other glaring fault.  White does NOT mean failure.

The goal always should be to teach the 4-H member how to improve in their project.  I think we need to continually remind ourselves and teach our young people that when they enter into a 4-H (or any other) competition, instead of placing the emphasis on winning, they should desire to seek, and be ready to accept honest criticism of their work, in order to acknowledge and correct errors, and ultimately grow within that project.

Being a winner is all about perspective…did you learn something?  Did you have a good time?  Can you say you did the best you could?  If a young person walks away feeling good about themselves, what they have accomplished, and what they have learned, they are winners.  I hope we can all keep that in mind.