Fan Shengwu
Party Secretary and Principal of Beijing 21st Century School
As a special grade Chinese teacher in Beijing, Fan is also the director of the Moral Education Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Education for Primary and Secondary Schools, the vice president of the Private Education Research Collaboration of the China Association for Private Education, the director of the International Exchange Branch of the China Association for International Exchange of Private Education, and the executive director of the Ideal School Society. He has been honored as China's Entrepreneurship and Innovation News Figure, National Advanced Principal in Science and Technology, National Advanced Individual in Education Reform, Provincial and Ministerial Advanced Worker, Provincial and Ministerial Outstanding Teacher, the Third Mingyuan Education Award, Beijing Outstanding Principal in Private Education, Advanced Individual in Haidian District, "Good Secretary and Good Principal for Emphasizing Democracy Building" of Haidian Education System, "Outstanding Party Worker" of Haidian District Education System (multiple times), "Top Ten Outstanding Party Members" at prefecture and municipal level, Party Representative at prefecture and municipal level (three times), and selected as one of the "Beijing Good People List".
He has published four monographs: Reconstructing School Culture, Embracing the Future: Fan Shengwu's Whole Person Education and the Dream of the Century, Sowing the Seeds of Magnificence for Students, and Movie Cultivation, as well as nearly 100 articles in People's Education, China Education News, Contemporary Teacher Education, and other publications. He has presided over 3 national-level projects, 3 municipal-level projects and 9 district-level projects and conducted more than a hundred training sessions for principals and Chinese teachers across the country, which have been widely acclaimed. He has also won a number of prizes for his educational and teaching achievements.
Ten Years to Grow Trees, One Hundred Years to Nurture People
There are two classic images in my mind: one is the expectant eyes of parents and even the whole family when they reluctantly handed over their 6-year-old child to our teachers at the beginning of the school year on September 1; the other is the parents' eyes full of wishes and tears when their child received the graduation certificate from me at the graduation ceremony on July 1. I wondered, if this were the same child, and the parents had sent the child to our school this year, what kind of child would I return to them twelve years later? I would imagine further, what will happen to the students who have just received their graduation certificates from me, and what will happen to them when they go to study abroad or even join the workforce? Can our present education prepare them for their future? Some people may think, "you may not be the principal of this school twelve years from now. Will education still be able to impact children for the rest of their lives?" Yes, that's exactly what I think. No matter how many years I am the principal of this school, I have to be responsible for their future, for their whole life. Those who do education cannot be too utilitarian, they cannot just care about the immediate interests of the students and think of nothing else. "It takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to nurture people." A person's achievement is a lifelong journey, and education is to serve children for a lifetime. Therefore, the ultimate mission of school education is to "lay the foundation for the future".
We can't be sure what kind of life a child will lead in the future, but we can dig into each child's strengths and potentials and give them enough confidence and strength to become complete individuals and the best versions of themselves.
