16 November 2007

The 13th Graduation Ceremony of
The Hong Kong Institute of Education

May I begin by congratulating the graduates of today.? In congratulating you, let me take the opportunity on your behalf to express your appreciation to members of your families as they stood patiently supporting you through your years of learning.? Thanks also go to The Hong Kong Institute of Education and your teachers who subtly nurtured not only your skill, your knowledge, but also your personalities, to equip you for the brave new world that you will be facing after today.

Today marks the day that transform you from a student to a teacher, from being taught to teach, although learning is never an ending process.

What should I address you today?? My very initial thought is to talk about your new President elect, Professor the Honourable Anthony Cheung, an old friend of mine.? But on a second thought, I would leave it to you to slowly absorb his talent, his vision, his commitment and his leadership.? Instead I thought I would speak to you on two different issues, namely: why do we need professional trained teachers; and secondly the role of the Institute of Education in the provision of university education.? Needless to say, these are my personal views.

It has been said that “三人行, 必有我師焉”.? It has also been said that “人之患在好為人師”.? So, can just anyone be a teacher?? In 1962, I graduated as a medical doctor and after one year of internship, I joined The University of Hong Kong and became a member of the academic staff.? For some 16 years, I taught medical students.? Unashamedly, I produced hundreds of medical graduates, many are now specialists and professors in their special fields of medicine.? During that period of teaching, I honestly transmitted medical knowledge and skills at least of those times to my students.? I had prepared them for the harsh realism of hospital life.? I did instill in them the sense of high moral and professional standards and I believed I taught with passion.? Was I a good teacher even by the standards then?? I doubt very much.? In retrospect, I have no knowledge of pedagogies, no methodology to motivate interest in study and research; no means to instill the proper education psychology to understand youngster mindset.? Honestly I still indulged in the blind belief of eliticism of encouraging study to gain credit points.? I failed to guide students to see beyond the confinement of the classroom or hospitals, let alone the community and the world at large.

Looking at it from a negative side, I might even have dampened the self confidence of some students, taught areas that were unproductive and meaningless, thereby accidentally blockaded some brilliant youth to become medical stars in years to come.

Yes, I might have been passionately transmitting knowledge for them to be good technologists but I have not given them a university education to make them more wholesome persons for the society.

In short, a proper professional teacher is more than a passionate transmitter of knowledge -- you need proper professional training for teaching, and you must have the desire let alone the capabilities for life long learning.? The significance of these attributes are ever rising because of the following factors:

The fast changing society demands an ever changing curriculum which today includes not only academic performances but also nurturing of youngsters on their moral culture and their whole-person development.

You will be facing factors in the classroom which your predecessors had not encountered -- more students from single-parent families, broken families, families with child abuse, families who are new arrivals from the Mainland, or perhaps return migrants, children who have learning difficulties.? With the expansion of free education to 12 years, teachers will also be facing more students of varied capabilities.

You will be facing parents, community leaders who are likely very different than before.? They are presumably more knowledgeable, and are forever conscious of their own rights.? They want to participate more in their children’s school life and have a greater say on school governance.? Furthermore, with the advent of electronic media, they have many platforms to air their discontent, rightly and wrongly.

In short, it is not enough for today’s professional teachers to just get the job done ( “做好呢份工”).

How could this be brought about?? The would-be professional teachers of today must be provided with much more than vocational training.? More than knowing how to teach, they need a wide and cross discipline base of knowledge, a wide vision and awareness to take up the responsibilities of a global citizenship.? All these are part and partial of a comprehensive university education in a university setting.

Dear graduates, these are the responsibilities of The Hong Kong Institute of Education and they have been transmitted to you so that all of you today stand proud as a product of university life and university education.? You are conferred a degree that is in par with any degree accredited by any self-accrediting university, regardless what your alma mater is being call at this moment.

The late Chancellor of the City University of New York Professor Robert Kibbee once said “The quality of a university is measured by the kind of students it turns out than by the kind it takes in.”? You as graduates are now the insignia bearers of The Hong Kong Institute of Education.? It is your responsibility to ensure that its name shines.

Mr Deputy Chairman, I would like to end by touching on a subject which is very dear to the heart of yourself and I am sure every single graduate of today --- the name of “University”.

In my speech, I have paid tribute to the role of the Institute and its function that is no different to any self-accreditating university.? Then why the fuss about the name?

It may be said that many famous institutions round this world do not carry the synonym of “university” and yet are of world wide acclaim ---? notably the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology and the London Institute of Education etc.? Shakespeare once said “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.

Yet along the same stream, Confucius also said “名不正，則言不順，言不順，則事不成”.

I would urge the HKSAR Government to seriously discuss this issue without delay.? On my part, I do see the need for a University of Education of Hong Kong.

Mr Deputy Chairman, may I close by again congratulating the graduates of today.

As for me, being an untrained teacher of the past, I feel particularly honoured to address the graduates of The Hong Kong Institute of Education today.