Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
It seems inappropriate developmentally to have that kind of "us and them" mentality, and a dog-eat-dog kind of competitive atmosphere in a classroom.
What about kids who are motivated by competition? I wanted to do better than other kids in school, and I did not mind being recognized for it, but I never tried to hinder anyone else. There is little or negative social benefit to being a top student in elementary school, but by high school there was (in part because the smart kid could help you with your work). There are countries where class ranks are posted from 1st grade on, and it's not clear that their educational systems produce inferior results to ours.