Red pen didn't scar me for life. As for trophies for participation, they're just kids and rewarding them for participation isn't going to make them grow up to feel that they'll make it into everything all the time (such as plays, jobs, etc.). I do agree with a lot of this, though. I wasn't good at sports and it didn't scar me for life to be picked last for a team. I learned fairly early in life that encountering rude peers was a fact of life. Kids shouldn't have to endure horrific ordeals, but they should be taught to have a thicker skin. It also doesn't help that sometimes young people who are given a hard time by a few people have their so called supporters going up to them and going, "Oh, everybody makes fun of you, blah blah." What message does that send? If you're young and you do things in a way that they're not used to seeing, then it's going to meet with a fair amount of disapproval. That's a fact of life. Don't try to teach them to feel sorry for themselves. Sorry, but I think those who claim to "champion the underdog" don't have much sense and are people who make hasty and inappropriate assumptions.
Anyway, I think that red pen is fine.