BooknStuff Find educational solution, notes and support for various standards
Essay Title: The Value of Games in Education
Other Titles for the Essay:
- Importance of Games
- Games as essential part of Education
Education aims at full development of the human personality. The human personality has several sides and it is the purpose of education to develop all these sides so that the individual may attain his full stature. Man has a body, a mind and a spirit. Accordingly education aims at the physical development, and the spiritual and moral development of man. It is a very narrow view of education to think that education merely gives knowledge to a human being and thus fits him for the purpose of earning his livelihood; but education does much more than this.
Education cannot ignore the physical side of man. Man has been blessed with a beautiful body. Poets, painters and sculptor have gone into reputes over the human body and have tried to depict it in their art in many ways. Games are a mean of keeping the body healthy and fit. Physical fitness and freedom from all kinds of ailments are the desire and ambition of every human being. Indeed, good health is first condition of happiness in life. Those who play games generally maintain good health. Games are an excellent means of bodily exercise.
Apart from building the body games are an excellent recreation or pastime. Education teaches a man the need and value of recreational activities. Education does not approve of the scholar who keeps poring over books all the time. Recreation is necessary. And games are among the most interesting recreations in the world. The essence of a recreation is that it should refresh both the body and the mind, and provide a means of escape from one’s professional or scholarly pursuits. When one is playing golf or billiards or badminton or table-tennis, one becomes forgetful of every, thing else and gets absorbed in the games. Thus area diversion not only for the players, but also for the spectators, because of the great interest that create.
Games are not just a diversion for the mind; they even provide a kind of training for the mind. Most games today are a matter of high skill and ripe judgment. Hockey, football, cricket and other games are not just a matter of physical exertion and exercise. Proficiency in these games is a matter of long practice. The player must acquire the art of playing a game. Every game therefore, contributes to the development of the mind and the judgment of a player. Good players show a lot of mental alertness and ingenuity in the course of their play.
Fair play is a noble moral quality when practiced in political dealings. The quality is best inculcated in human beings through games. The habit of fair play makes a man love honesty, integrity and justice which are great moral qualities. Games also teach the lesson of accepting a defeat on the play field with a smiling face. A defeated player shakes hands with his victorious opponent and even offers him congratulations. Defeat does not dishearten or depress a true sportsman. On the contrary it provides an incentive, for a greater effort. This lesson also is bound to prove useful to a man in the wider sphere of life. Life has its misfortunes, woes, failures, but a man with a tough character is not daunted by these. Games make a man ought and thus enable him to withstand the “slings and arrows of fortune. Games teach certain other lesson as well. They teach or the spirit of mutual cooperation; they teach the value or united effort; they teach the necessity of always obeying to orders of the captain or the leader. All these are valuable lessons prepare man to live correctly and nobly. Education aims at building up character, and character includes all the qualities mentioned above. Thus the value of games in forming and moulding character is very great. Education aims too, at developing qualities of leadership in human beings. The qualities of leadership are developed most effectively and fruitfully through game.
