Sport Is Greatest School Of Vanity Essay

, Research Paper

Sport Is The Greatest School Of Vanity

It is two o’clock on Saturday the 22 February 2000. It is the day of the annual Hilton VS Michael House rugby game. In the stands, five hundred schoolboys eagerly await the arrival of the fifteen so-called “Gods” dressed in the black and white to come racing onto the field. As the “Titans” take the field all five Hundred of them jump up and praise them in one euphoric roar. The out come of the game is eight to five in Hiltons favor. They all run on and form a circle around the fifteen victorious “Gladiators” and as they sing O’ boys the spirit and not to mention the ego’s are raised to an all time high.

It is three o’clock on Saturday the 12 November. It is the Natal Witness inter-schools chess championship and Hilton College has made it to the finals. The best players from either side are competing for one of the most prestigious chess titles in South Africa. In the stands, nobody, as usual. The pressure is getting to both of the boys, but in the end Hilton pulls through with a tight win. The boys get into the bus and go back to school.

Monday morning comes and the whole school is “bowing” down to the almighty fifteen who by this stage are over flowing with arrogance and contemptuous pride. The praise that they receive is almost overwhelming.

Monday morning comes and no one even says good morning to the members of the chess team. The praise that they receive for their good effort is non-existent.

This is the case in many schools all over the world where students are praised for their performance on the sports fields and not in the classroom. The question one has to ask him or her is what are students actually sent to school for is it to succeed on the sports field or is it to achieve in the classroom.

Many say that it should be a careful and equal balance between the two, yet very often it leans too much in favor of sport. This is when schools start getting the attitude that sport comes first and work comes second.

Average students that are good at sport are given scholarships instead of the knowledge hungry hard workers who want to succeed in life not sport. People that achieve in academics or another non-sporting activity are made to feel stupid and are considered an “outsider” or a “Geek” by the other students.

This is not right and must be stopped.

In closing I would like to say something to all of those who this essay may concern. Very few of you will get through life by scoring tries. Truly great men will succeed in life by score knowledge.