3083 Edition
March 28-April 3, 2011
Editorial
Editorial: When no child is left behind in our schools
Translated by Lydia Ma
I was glad to hear that Taiwanese schools had recently imported a game from Japanese schools involving a three-legged race between two teams. The game consists of two teams and each team must be from the same class. The secrets to winning the game are cooperation, mutual trust, and mutual aid. The goal of the game is to teach kids they can’t leave their partners behind and success isn’t merely about good skills and talented teammates.
In 2006, a Japanese team won this challenging three-legged race even though one of the contestants was deaf. The deaf child and his team succeeded because of encouragement from teammates, teachers, and parents.
Three-legged races challenge children to improve their “Adversity Quotient”. In Japanese programs, the team that loses the game is the team that gets the most attention because everyone wants to know how teammates treat one another after losing a game.
One coach was overheard saying, “You cry now because you worked hard to get here. You lost the game today because the other team worked harder than you did. But you should all hold your head high and your chin up when you walk outside, because you all worked hard and tried your best and that’s what got you to this point.”
Such encouraging words always bring tears to people’s eyes and it reminds us why education is one of the greatest means to change a nation, a generation, a culture, etc. For PCT, we hope to change Taiwanese culture through education by teaching people to be less selfish and more attentive to other people’s needs and well-being so that no one is left behind.
There used to be a joke that said most Taiwanese students who excelled at home and later travelled to a foreign country for another degree would do admirably in academics but flunk in social networking and other skills. Fortunately, PCT schools have done better jobs than other academic institutions in producing all-rounded students.
As we remember PCT schools this Sunday and remember how those schools were among the firsts to exist in Taiwan and their founders among the firsts to advocate mass education, let us all catch up with the rest of the world in the realm of special-needs education despite challenges ahead of us.
In countries that have nurtured heroes such as Rainer Schmidt or the deaf Japanese boy in the story above, an extraordinary education system has become commonplace nationwide and it’s worth modeling. We urge church schools in Taiwan to arise and change Taiwan’s secular education system! We also urge Christians to join church schools in changing the present educational system based on rivalry and the survival of the fittest. How are church schools different and better in today’s society? They are better when they set an example by not giving up on any child and by seeing every child’s needs and potential in advance.
