Theme for the week: ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
As we have heard, today’s message is ‘ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE’ – or to be more precise ‘Renew your mind – and acquire knowledge’.
In exactly four weeks, you will sit down to write your mid-year exams. Some of you are already hard at work. Some of you, perhaps, are still planning to start. Either way, the clock is ticking—and now is the time to renew your focus and apply yourselves with purpose and discipline. But my message this morning is not just about study timetables and test preparation—although those are important. It is about the attitude you bring to your learning, and the ‘why’ behind your efforts.
I want to talk about knowledge—not just as something you memorise for exams, but as something that shapes who you become. Something that transforms your mind and your view of the world. As Mkize told us, the apostle Paul encourages us to ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’What does that mean for you, as young men of Maritzburg College? Firstly, it means that your mind is not fixed. You are not destined to stay as you are. You can change. You can grow. You can become more thoughtful, wise and capable—if you choose to renew your mind. And how do you do that? By learning. By asking questions. By not settling for surface-level understanding. By reading more. Listening more. Thinking more. And, yes—by studying harder. You have been given the opportunity to receive an excellent education. But an education is only as good as what you do with it. It’s not just about marks. It’s about what kind of man you’re becoming.
Gentlemen, renew your mind—and acquire knowledge. Not just so you can pass your exams, but so you can understand the world around you. So you can build character, develop conviction, and ultimately, make good decisions in a complicated world.
And that brings me to the second part of my message. We live in a country—and a world—full of complexity, diversity and difference. With different races, backgrounds and beliefs. Sometimes that difference causes tension. But it doesn’t have to. Because when you truly understand your own culture, you are better equipped to understand and appreciate others.
The quote for this week is by an anonymous writer and is, ‘When we understand our own culture, we are better equipped to understand and appreciate others.’ The author may be unknown, but the wisdom in it is profound.
Part of renewing your mind is expanding your mind. Don’t be limited to your own experience. Read about history, politics and world around you. Ask questions about the world. Try to understand people who are not like you. That’s how you grow—not just into a good student, but into a good man.
Some of you will become leaders—of companies, schools, families, even countries perhaps. And the best leaders are those who have understanding—not just of their own views, but of others. So, yes, prepare well for your exams. Set your alarm clocks. Get off your phones. Find quiet spaces. Put in the work. But remember: the goal is not just academic success. The goal is wisdom. The goal is growth and transformation. Let’s be young men who refuse to conform to the pattern of this world—a world that is often shallow, angry, distracted and divided. Instead, let us renew our minds. Let us seek knowledge, grow in understanding, and be better—and help to make the world better too.
The sincere thanks of the entire school go to all the staff and boys who gave up large parts of last week to represent our school in a whole manner of activities, especially in Kimberley and in the Eastern Cape. Well done to our boys, as they pitted themselves against and rub shoulders with some of the best schoolboy sportsmen in the country. We can all improve, and I hope that all the boys who went to Kimberly and Port Elizabeth not only learnt some valuable sporting and LIFE lessons, but also made some friends along the way.
AWARDS and CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION
Six members of the Speakers’ Circle participated in the Public Speaking competition at PBHS. The Unprepared Speech Format was followed for the competition. Congratulation to all six speakers who received Gold awards.
- Victor Kasambala – A++ (97%)
- Andile Mkhize – A++ (94%)
- Elroy Hamadziripi – A+ (88%)
- L Shangase, L Luthuli and S Danisa (85%)
Acting Headmaster departure at the end of the month:
I have so far not addressed with you the news of which many of you, I know, already know, and that is my own move, at the end of this month, to Girls High School. I know that I will be able to say a few words to you, before I finally leave these ‘old walls’, but it would be wrong of me not to at least acknowledge that, yes, I have taken the – for me – HUGE decision to leave this great school, and that, yes, I have been promoted to be the principal of GHS. Perhaps all I need to stress for now is, firstly, at least I am not leaving to go to another boys’ school. That would be disloyal to College – and I could never do that. And, secondly, I am not going to a private school either.
It is with a heavy heart that I get ready to leave College, but I am excited for the future, I will still be around if you need the odd guest speaker at a Friday sports assembly, and I certainly look forward to working with you all over the next four weeks, culminating in Reunion Day on the 31st.
Lastly, I would like to refer to the upcoming derby fixture this Saturday against St Charles. I wouldn’t normally speak on a Monday about a weekend fixture, but, gentlemen, let us all be very clear: this weekend, we are engaged in a friendly WAR with our neighbours, and we all need to ready ourselves over the next few days for what is to come. We will be heading across town, and I am telling you, gentlemen, that although it is an away fixture, I am expecting large amounts of support from you all on Friday night and on Saturday. St Charles may be a smaller school than ours, but make no mistake: it is their 150th Reunion Day and they will be desperate to take us down, and desperate to make a name for themselves at our expense. And they’ve chosen this special Reunion Day — with thousands of their old boys in the crowd — to try and do it. They have issued a challenge to us, and they want us vulnerable. They hope that we doubt ourselves. They think now is their time. But they forget just who we are.
So I say this to you: Every hit at practice this week matters. Every sprint, every pass, every rep. — that is where the battle is won. We don’t hope to win — we prepare to win. And we don’t give our opponents an inch. Because come Saturday, when the whistle blows and their crowd roars, and the moment comes — you will hit harder, run faster and dig deeper. You are College. And College does not yield. Let them come with their noise, their blazers, their old boys and their hopes. We will answer them with courage, pride and old-fashioned College Satana.
Pro Aris et Focis
Mr M Marwick
ACTING HEADMASTER