Good Morning My Dear Colleagues and Students,
Welcome back to school. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the new teachers to you. The first teacher is Ms. Cheng Wing Man鄭穎雯. She will teach S.4 Chemistry and Junior Form Integrated Science. Since Ms. Cheng is a Form Teacher in S.2, she is not available right now. Ms. Tsang Chiu Po曾肖波. She will teach Junior Form and Form 4 Chinese Language and Putonghua. Ms. Lo Ka Man羅嘉敏. She will teach S.1 - 3 Liberal Studies.
Our School was established in 1982. For the past 28 years, the school has been providing an all-round education, laying equal emphasis on five aspects of education: moral, intellectual, physical, social and aesthetic development. After struggling for nearly three decades, the school has developed good policies and laid a good foundation. Now, we have high reputation in the Field of Education. Despite the limited space in the school, we can still create a good atmosphere for teaching and learning. In order to face new challenges, we are ready to make further improvement in subsequent years.
This year has been a fruitful one. In the Advanced Level Examination, all students fulfilled the University Admission Requirements. The credit percentage in our school is 67.6% on average while the average in Hong Kong is only 24.1%. On average, each student got 0.73 ‘A's, 1.34 ‘B's and 1.30 ‘C's. Six students attained 3 ‘A's or above. Sixteen students got 2 ‘A's or above. 79.8% of the candidates were admitted into the most famous Universities in Hong Kong, namely the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology.
In the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, 1 student attained the admirable results of 9 ‘A's and 1 ‘B'. She is Ms. Lee Yee Ming. 5 students attained 7 ‘A's or above. Besides, our school has attained 100% passing rate for the 14th consecutive year. On average, each candidate got 1.21 ‘A's, 2.07 ‘B's and 2.38 ‘C's. 92.3% candidates scored 14 points or above. 10 students met the requirements for the Early Admission Scheme. 15 students got 5 ‘A's or above. These results are outstanding.
Besides the remarkable record in the academic area, we also have excellent performance in the non-academic aspect. We are the World Champion in the Demo Cup World Rope-skipping Championships 2010. We also won numerous awards in music, dance, painting, drawing, Chinese Calligraphy and many ball-game competitions.
Our school always focuses on moral and intellectual development. As our School Motto proclaims "Grasp Principles, Cultivate Virtues" （明道立德）, we provide an all-round education to cultivate in our students a positive attitude towards life and a spirit to serve the community. We also develop the skills and abilities of students for life-long learning, and their potential talent to the full. We expect all students to be leaders of the future, each possessing profound knowledge and a noble character.
Last week, we witnessed the Manila hostage crisis involving the ex-policeman and hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza. The incident ended in a tragedy with 8 hostages dead and 7 injured. I believe all of you cannot forget the horrific bloodbath. I feel terribly sorry for the incident and deep sympathy for the victims involved. A single person's perverse belief can lead to the loss of 8 innocent lives and the shattering of several warm families. We can't help asking: Is that human nature? How can it be so evil? In the eyes of the gunman, can he see other people besides himself? Is there anything more important than self-interest? Is it justified that a person can attain his goal without any scruples, not even paying the least regard to people's lives? Nobody promises us a smooth path for life. There are ups and downs, happiness and grief. In face of adversities, we need a strong will and positive values to back us up, or else we may easily go astray and even commit irrevocable mistakes that end up hurting others and ourselves. In our fast-paced society where young people are drowned in information explosion, technological advancement as well as the influence of western culture and values, temptations and challenges keep besetting them during their adolescence. We witness the aggravating teen problems of ‘drug abuse', ‘young models' and ‘compensated dating' (a cover term for illegal sex), and are vexed at the various disturbing modes of teen behavior of our present society. After all, the phenomenon can be attributed to a lack of proper values, goals for life and moral consciousness. Other factors that thwart young people's healthy developments are also unmistakable. They include the society's excessive demand for freedom, the radical means that some people employ to reach their end like hurling invective (rude and foul language) or even resorting to violence, and the indulgence of some young people in their electronic virtual world and the Internet. Are they symptoms of an imminent crisis of moral degradation? Being a member of the new generation, the future pillar of society, have you ever paid sufficient attention to all these problems around us?
One of our school's major concerns is the all-round development of students. We have carefully designed a Moral Education Curriculum for our students. Through the Moral Education lessons, activities like school assemblies, class-teacher's periods, morning assemblies, the "Planning for Life" Project, extra-curricular activities, life-wide projects like the Life-wide Learning Day, and the Learning Journal as a monthly assignment in which students are required to make self-judgement and reflection, students can scaffold for themselves, after critical thinking, more comprehensive and solid values for life. We hope that our students can learn to treasure themselves, respect others, develop their team spirit, enhance their adversity quotient and establish a set of proper values. After all, the ultimate goal of moral education is to equip students with human understanding that enable them to live a fruitful life, and build a more harmonious world through mutual respect and cooperation, with the people around them.
Our school's another major concern is the Effective Learning Programme. In recent years, the EDB has initiated and put into practice quite a number of educational reforms. The essence is to promote effective learning through information technology, reading, project learning, ‘Bi-literacy and Trilingualism', independent ‘self-learning' and ‘life-learning'. They also implemented the 334 New Senior Secondary Curriculum. Many of you here are taking the NSS Curriculum. You have to be aware that the new curriculum is in no way easier than the old one. It has a more comprehensive coverage and allows more flexibility. As a student, it is of prime importance to develop the right learning strategies, put more emphasis on critical thinking and thorough understanding, and reduce rote-learning so that knowledge can be grasped, consolidated and readily applied. More, as we all know, Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city and the ability to master English Language is indispensable to every student. That's why despite the series of educational reforms which have brought a train of changes to the foundation system, the status of English remains high. It is crystal clear that without English proficiency, the opportunities for further studies and a promising career will be severely curtailed. Thus, in this academic year, our school is going to attach more weight to English training.
Today, our students have made their very first stride onto the international sports arena. Besides rejoicing in their successful attempt, we must be aware that success is not achieved through luck. Our rope-skipping team has undergone harsh training for a long period of time, devoting more than 10 hours a week practising. What they have been doing is sacrificing their entertainment hours to spare time for rope-skipping and school work. Many people have the impression that Tanghinians only know ‘study'. Yet, today, we are proud to tell them that our students are more than that. We are capable of accomplishing outstanding performance in all aspects. With confidence and perseverance, we have made it. ‘Rome was not built in one day'. I hope you can all set for yourself a year plan starting from today. Work with an unfaltering will and be fearless of difficulties. Try hard to realize your dreams. As the famous saying of Mencius (孟子)goes, ‘Before God entrust a man with a ponderous task, he shall be tested. His mind will be distressed, limbs tired, body famished, fortune exhausted so as to strengthen his resolve, fortify his mettle and enhance his powers'. 「天將降大任於斯人也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨，餓其體膚，空乏其身」。To attain future success, planning and self-enrichment are prerequisites. Last but not least, I would like to conclude my speech with a renowned couplet from I Ching (易經) which is also the school's expectations of you all. ‘Like the celestial bodies vigorous and ceaseless in their movement, a gentleman should always strive with unremitting efforts for the better; Like the Earth encompassing and receptive to all, a gentleman must be broad-minded enough to accept or tolerate everything.'「 天行健，君子以自強不息」,「地勢坤，君子以厚德載物」。
Thank you!
Principal Lau Chi Yuen
HKTA Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School
1st September, 2010
