Issue Task- The best way for a society to prepare its young people for leadership in government, industry, or other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation, not competition.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons or examples that could be used to challenge your position.


All around the world, young people are growing into leaders, and society needs to prepare these young individuals to become the best leaders they can be. The prompt suggests that in order to prepare young people for leadership roles, we must teach them from a perspective of cooperation, and not competition. I agree with this statement, and argue that being cooperative is more beneficial than being competitive.

By choosing to be cooperative instead of competitive, we can collobarate with others and learn more than we would have learned if we chose to isolate ourselves and compete with others. For example, say a group of students are studying for a difficult Biology exam coming up. Now, they could all choose to lock themselves up in their rooms, study alone for hours and try to tackle difficult questions alone, or they could form a study group, exchange ideas, and learn much more effectively. If they choose to form a study group, everyone can contribute, and it is likely that most of the students can answer each other's questions. In this case, choosing to form a study group and cooperate together would not hurt the student's chances at all. Instead, it could possibly even improve their grades by a few points, because they were able to see things from a different perspective, and learn more. By teaching students to form study groups instead of isolating themselves, we are giving them a critical skill in leadership, which is cooperation. This cooperation that starts in the classroom will evolve into the workplace, allowing for collobaration and an exchange of ideas within government, industry, and other professional fields.

Being cooperative is much more important than being competitive in humanitarian situations especially. If two government officials are arguing over what to do regarding the lives of individuals, instead of working together to find a peaceful, safe solution, then people may get hurt. For example, during the Egyptian revolution against President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, government officials did not effectively cooperate with one another. Lives were lost, and people were hurt because government officials chose to instead argue and bolster their own reputations instead of work together to find a safe solution. In this case, choosing to compete when there shouldn't be any room for competition in the first place, is detrimental. In situations where lives are at stake, cooperation should be the integral theme.

Although in most cases cooperation is more effective in making a great leader than competition is, there are of course some situations in which competition could benefit the leader. For example, if two students are competing against each other for the role of president on their school organization eboard, some level of competition is needed. The students need to showcase their best abilities and skills, and not focus too much on hurting the other side. As long as it is done respectably, some level of competition is necessary in this case. However, in most cases, a leader needs to be cooperative. People that work with this leader should feel comfortable going to him or her and discussing important matters, knowing that this leader will be respectable and cooperate with them. It is not beneficial for the leader to critique and attack every complaint or concern that comes his or her way. Not only will the leader not learn what he or she needs to do better, but people will surely stop coming to him or her to discuss their opinions, and a window of communication will be closed.

Overall, leaders all around the world are very different, but one thing is certain, a leader who is cooperative and willing to listen is a very well respected leader. Since cooperativeness is a skill that is admired by many and has lead to successful results, we should definitely teach our young people this important skill.