It was a fine Saturday morning. We were ready for our parent-teacher meeting. While I was on my way to the class, one parent approached me and said, "Madam, see you have to start the coaching for various competitions and start as many competitions as possible so that my son will gain confidence to face the world. Any way he has to face tough competition in his life." I stopped for a while and told him that we are taking the efforts to mould them and prepare them to face the competitive world, but the conversation with that parent made me to re-think what we are doing in a school. Is your success based on how many you defeated in the past? Competition is only competition whether it is healthy or unhealthy. We aim better performance through competitions. But did we ever think of the change of student's mindsets after undergoing competitions? On winner's side its always pride and the looser's side it's depression, more adrenaline flow, loss of confidence and the list goes on.. We do confuse them and show them that winning is more important than excellence. Isn't the excellence different from winning? Are all the winners excellent? The world becomes a battle field full of obstacles, fights and opponents. There was a violinist who used to play the violin excellently in all the concerts but used to fail all auditions due to tension. When creativity blossoms in a happy environment, world get master pieces. Dalai Lama said, "I am often moved by the example of small insects, such as bees. The law of nature dictate that bees work together on order to survive. As a result they possess an instinctive sense of social responsibility. They have no constitution, laws, police, religion or moral training but because of their nature they labour faithfully together. Occasionally they may fight, but in general the whole colony survives on the basis of co-operation. Human beings on the other hand, have Constitutions, vast legal systems and police forces. We have religion and remarkable intelligence and a heart with a capacity to love. But in real practice we lag behind these poor bees." How true. The competitive mind which we nurture in the young years gradually start to see everyone as their competitor in their life. Meanwhile the entire creativity is lost in the run for competition. Particular act done in the competition, it's originality and creativity becomes insignificant for the child when the aim is to beat the opponent.