When is competition valuable?

When it's personal... when I compete with myself, I am a better person.  Globally, cooperation would be ideal, but there are times when competition is necessary in order to control greed. 

There was a time, when my school did not allow competition.  Everything that the children played in P.E. class and on the playground, had to have non-competitive roots - all activities had to be cooperative.  The results were less than stellar.  The children became dull... they lacked luster.  There were no incentives to bring the whole into the winner's circle because, as usual, the administration had bought into something that they, themselves didn't really buy.  The administration usually adopts a program and then puts the cart before the horse.  We all stand there and become frustrated when we can't move forward.  Administration is not vested or committed to making sure that everyone - from the top down to the bottom up - understands and believes in what we are doing and WHY we are doing it.  It's not that they don't care, they usually have WAY too much on their plates.

There is a fine line between healthy competition and competition that is destructive.  It would be a much nicer world if we worked together for the good of all.