I think it's a Chesterton's Fence thing -- nobody remembers why we give out participation trophies, so we continue giving them out. Their importance is overblow

I think it's a Chesterton's Fence thing -- nobody remembers why we give out participation trophies, so we continue giving them out. Their importance is overblown. Nobody is fooled. I remember my daughter came home with a ribbon, and I asked her what it was for. She said: "Oh, it's just one of those ribbons that you get for participating." We signed her up for kids' soccer. It was a league where they didn't keep score. Yet the kids knew exactly what the score was after each game, and who the best players were. I remember as a kid that my motivation came from things where I could measure my own performance, such as getting through a math problem, or playing pieces on the cello, of escalating difficulty.