GMAT Essays (AWA)

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 and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position


I mostly agree that cooperation is superior to competition when it comes to the trait that the the society should inculcate in its young people in prepartion for leadership and work in the public or the private sector. In this text, I illustrate why I hold that view by showing that most life problems are best solved through cooperation rather than competion.

To begin with, instilling the habit of cooperation in the young generations is crucial, as now, more than ever, most countries depend on each other to satisfy the needs of their citizenry. Growing up with that understanding has a potential to nurture grownups who prefer collaborative actions over competitive ones, and, in most cases, that leads to favorable outcomes. Take, for a instance, a society that teaches its children negotion skills, statesmanship, coordination, and interpersonal communication. Mastering such skills involve enormous collaboration with others, and there is a growing body of evidence that corroborates that effective leaders are the ones that inspire collective action and teamwork towards a common goal rather than the ones who encourage competiton within compatriots. Thus, to be such a leader, one needs to learn the basics of cooperation at a young age.

Surely, competiton has its own merits that are also beneficiala for leadership and standard employment in the public and private sectors. One of those include the relentless quest for excellence among the peers. When competition supersedes collaboration, however, the drawbacks supersede the benefits. For instance, In a society where children are taught by their parents that ranking as number one in all courses, the essence of education becomes undermined. This follows from the fact that children who grow up in such societies tend to aim for perfection, which in not an idyllic trait in a leader or any other employee in the government, industry, and other fields like research and teaching. Therefore, despite the pros that competition have on individual performance, for collective welfare, a pervasive sense of cooperation engenders greater benefits, and thus, societies should prioritize the latter rather than the former.


To conclude, given the preponderance of evidence that argue in favor of cooperation over competiton, I mostly agree that the best option for communities to prepare effective future leaders and employees in the public and private sectors is to to inculcate in their children the sense of collaboration, not competition. Evidence like collaborative traits that foster teamwork and collective action drive national progress more than competion that engenders the quest for perfection. Therefore, current communities should teach the new generation that collaboration is the best option to achieve sustainable development.