Dear Prof. Shek, Dr. Li, School Managers, guests, Principal Wong, teachers, students, parents and friends
Good morning. Today I am delighted to attend the 26th graduation ceremony of Ning Po No. 2 College. I believe that the graduates would have definitely treasured every minute of their school years at Ning Po No. 2 College with friends and teachers, who have been shared your happiness and frustrations over the past six years. Even though it is impossible for me to know every one of you, I, as a father of three daughters, can still imagine how excited and proud you and your parents are now.
After completing the six-year secondary school life, you should have acquired sufficient academic knowledge, social and life skills as well as IT skills. But it does not mean that your learning journey should end at this stage as learning is a life-long journey for everyone. The primary, secondary and even tertiary education are simply entry-permits to our fascinating but complicated society. You still have to, or will experience the ups and downs of your journey by yourself.
Today, some young people are regarded as ‘reckless’, ‘fragile’, ‘immature and inexperienced’. It seems that they are not capable to handle difficulties and face challenges in their daily life. Some parents become ‘helicopter parents’ who are determined to ‘baby-sit’ their children even their grown up children. Under such circumstances, the young people would not be able to manage their expectations as they lack of knowledge and experience to cope with the real life situation. No wonder they would suffer from the frustration and desperation when they encounter difficulties. In the extreme cases, some young people would be obsessed with Internet surfing in order to escape from reality. When these young people can find no way out, they would resend to release their emotions through Internet, which might cause ‘Internet Bullying’. It shows that they don’t recognize its negative effect and harm to the victims and have no ideas to be responsible for their own behavior and speech on the Internet.
I think we should emphasize on the training of inter-personal skills as well as moral education in youth education with the hope of rectifying the current problematic situation. The youth must learn to change their mindset, from a self-centered person to a considerate and benevolent person. Our youth should receive appropriate guidance without over-intervention. Quoted Zig Ziglar (1926 – 2012, An American, a salesman, motivational speaker and an author) ’s saying, “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” . Let me share my thoughts on these with you:
‘Expect the best’: In fact, it is necessary for the youth to have a good expectation to the future, e.g. career path and academic performance, etc. A positive attitude would definitely drive people to strive for success.
‘Prepare for the worst’: It is related to an effective expectation management. We are not saying that the youth should be pessimistic about everything. But they should focus on a good preparation: even if it was a worst scenario which would help to lessen the shock and disappointment when the worst situations occur. ‘Capitalize on what comes’: It should be the critical point for the youth to adjust their expectations to match the reality. When the outcome appears, the youth must be trained to digest the outcomes, amend their plan/ goal/ expected outcomes, and also execute the amended plan.
I believe that our society would be much more harmonious when our next generation would nurture a mature and healthy growth in their personality, values as well as their communication skills. Indeed, it should not merely be the target of the youth. Instead, it should be every citizen’s responsibility to be aware of the influence of their own thoughts and behaviour on others. All these are the fundamental curriculum of our lifelong learning.
In sum, I would like to pay special tribute to our principal, teachers, parents and school managers in nurturing our students with persistence, providing them with the best possible education. Your continuous support to Ning Po No. 2 College and the heart to develop our future generations is highly appreciated. Thank you.