Today, Mr. Shing shared with us a message on filial piety. It was a social concept very fundamental to any Chinese society. But Mr. Shing pointed out that we were losing this traditional spirit just by not doing some trivial things in our daily lives. Using easy to understand, contemporary life examples, Mr. Shing reminded to honor our parents and treat them well by simply doing mundane things, such as answering to their questions promptly and listening to what they have to say patiently. Mr. Shing made a good point. We Chinese are often characterized by our loyalty to our family and parents. Maybe as students, we have not yet come at the point where we need to take care of our parents, but we can definitely practice filial piety in our daily life by doing the “trivial things” mentioned by Mr. Shing
During the morning assembly on 9th October, Mr. Leung, our vice-principal, delivered us a message on the topic of “Independent Thinking”. Using the plot from the famous post-war avant-garde drama, “Rhinoceros”, written by Eugène Ionesco, Mr. Leung illustrated to us how difficult, yet important, for us to remain as independent thinkers. He also demonstrated his point by citing the life stories of history –making scientists Galileo Galilei, Gregory Mendel and Barry Marshall, who challenged the established knowledge and left noticeable marks in the history of scientific discovery. Mr. Leung encouraged us to be independent thinkers by accumulating knowledge, thinking logically, keeping an open mind and being sceptical. Let’s take Mr. Leung’s message to our hearts and be bold in our thinking, so that SFXC will be remembered as a breeding ground for avant-garde thinkers instead of mindless rhinos.
This morning, Mr. Pong reiterated his important message about the principles behind goal setting. He used the acronym “S.M.A.R.T.” to help us remember these 5 principles: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. He also used basketball legend, Michael Jordon’s famous life lesson as an illustration of the importance of “S.M.A.R.T” goal setting. Let’s take this lesson to our hearts and set our goals SMARTly. We may not all be Michael Jordon but we will all achieve something far greater than what we have now if we follow the formula.
This morning, Mr. Iu taught us the importance of goal-setting and challenged us to set focused goal for this academic year. He used a psychology experiment to illustrate to us that only the students with full knowledge of their exact destinations, correct routes and designated checkpoints to make progress reflection could make it through a very challenging race. Let’s take this message to hearts and set precise goals and milestones for our studies this year.
This morning, Mr. Iu asked us what made SFXC special. Surprisingly, his answer was not our free school spirit, nor our EMI status. It was “We are a Catholic School. To be more precise, we are a Marist School.” Quoting St. Mercellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers, Mr. Iu stressed that “our role is to make Jesus Christ known and loved”. He believed that this was not the work of human hands but a divine task accomplished only by the Holy Spirit. There may be less than 10% of our students who are Catholics, but the core values of Catholic Education have been embedded in our school life since the founding day of SFXC. So when we are asked again for the quality that makes SFXC stand out as a school, our answers should unanimously be “We are a Marist School!”