Fervet Opus in Campis. The Utmost for the Highest. Fortis. These are the mottos of three Jamaican, all-boys, High Schools. Said mottos are burned into the consciousnesses of each and every boy who ever graduated from these schools over the numerous decades of their existence. Questioned some forty years later, that same boy (now man) can likely recite the motto in English and Latin, say it backwards and forward and regale you with the lewd/bastardised versions of said motto.
The above is just a tiny example of the profound impact made by these schools on their graduates and no doubt partly explains the fanatical loyalty of male graduates of Jamaican High Schools including Wolmers, Kingston College, Jamaica College, Calabar, St. Georges, Munro and Cornwall College. Their graduates ("old boys") display a devotion that would inspire envy in many a religious cult.
Every old boy can explain his loyalty to his school. He made lifelong friends there, he received an excellent education there, and, most importantly, his school is better than all others.
If you press him as to why his school is better than the others he will readily explain. His school has produced so many Prime Ministers, any number of Ministers of Government, countless Olympic Athletes, authors, Rhodes scholars, businessmen and renowned artists. Further, his school has been in existence for innumerable decades and in its illustrious and unparalleled history has won Boys Championships, Sunlight Cup Cricket, Manning Cup and Schools Challenge Quiz countless times. All these victories were against odds that would have daunted the greatest heroes of Greek mythology and were accomplished with legendary skill and sportsmanship.
Graduates from his school have represented king and country at the highest levels all over the world. They have fought courageously and died bravely in wars, they have served in international institutions and have won prestigious awards in every field of endeavour. All this because of the priceless and impossible to duplicate instruction they received in the classrooms and on the playing fields of their noble alma mater.
This evidence, he will tell you, is indisputable and clearly demonstrates that his school is the finest educational institution on the planet. Allow the "old boy" to laugh at your childish ignorance. Walk away. This is not an argument you can win.
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written by Damian Whylie, March 25, 2010
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