There are two very different types of approaches that can be taken to the classroom environment. One is the collaborative approach and one is the competitive approach. The majority of classrooms will rely on the competitive approach at least to some degree (just think of the grading system in most schools and you can see this). This seems to not make a lot of sense to people who have spent time working in the real world where there is a much greater need for collaboration than there is for competition. However, the competitive atmosphere tends to bring out the best skills in students and therefore remains the preferred approach by most classrooms and educators.

One way to harness the power of competition while also fostering the ability to collaborate with others is to create situations in which teams compete against each other. This may take place between cooking schools with similar programs. For example, the students from the Culinary Academy of California could be asked to compete in a cook-off against the students getting a Scottsdale Culinary Arts Degree. Alternatively, this same type of competition could take place between the students of a single school who have been divided into groups. In either case, the team learns to work together in a collaborative environment that simulates real life while also gaining the skills that are only fully developed when engaging in competition.

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