Teaching discipline and teamwork

When my father was a boy, children learned discipline and teamwork through working together. One person pitched hay and the other one stacked it. Mother and daughters produced meals with the well-organized system of the kitchen. The result of their effort was something very useful and tangible: hay in the barn and food on the table. The things they produced were indeed important. 

Today we (largely) try to teach those same qualities through sports. Children are taught to play together, and the result is nothing tangible or useful. The product of our efforts is "winning" (on the scoreboard), and thus that is what we teach our children is important. We really are progressing, aren't we?