Key to Success: “I” or “WE”

Key to Success: “I” or “WE” Competition or Cooperation
It is the England of 1860-62 about the mid of the Victorian era. England is the richest country in the world due to the principle of non-interference and industrial revolution. She has attained to that position at the cost of thousands of children worked or starved to death or ruined in health like ignorant slaves. At this time Ruskin writes “Unto This Last” in which he says:
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings: that man is richest who having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.
Since late 1800s researchers have started considering cooperative and competitive environment and there is a very rich history in the favour of cooperative working domain. Triplett (1897) found that people perform better when involved with others rather than on their own. Afterwards F.H. Allport referred to it as social facilitation (1924). For John Dewey, the educator and researcher, education depended on action, knowledge and ideas emerged from a meaningful situation. Thus making meaning through experience in a social context is the soul of learning or success. On the basis of this idea, he developed cooperative school communities in highly social interactive settings. Jean Piaget emphasized that to understand is to invent or discover. His theory of learning is based on psychological development. According to him, if individuals are to be creative and problem solver, they have to discover and rediscover and construct and reconstruct relationships and ideas by active involvement in situations of interest to them. Lev.S.Vygotsky the Russian philosopher and educationist, believed in the construction of knowledge in a cooperative environment through positive social interaction.
In this computer age when the world has become a global village and people have come to know the importance of working together, many of us are still working in the domain of competition. It is very clear that in a competitive environment interdependence works in striving against each other. It results in negative relationships, unhealthy psychological adjustment, and lower achievements. On the other hand cooperative environment encourages the interdependence in which people strive with each other. They focus on the task to be achieved with the help of each other. It not only promotes positive relationships, healthy psychological adjustment and higher achievements but it also helps every individual to learn on his/her own pace and gain some creativity to become a useful person for the whole community.
There are countries and nations and even in our country there are organizations, which are working cooperatively and enjoying its fruitful outcomes. But now, at this catastrophic time, when our motherland, our whole nation need cooperation from every surviving individual. More than half of our country has to be reconstructed, more than half of our brothers and sisters have to restart their lives, what is our role? Are we even trying to move towards "WE" or we are stuck with "I"? Just THINK ABOUT IT!!!