万科梅沙书院校长欢迎致辞

Aim for the Stars, Reach to the Moon

A keynote speech by the Principal Wang Zhanbao at the opening ceremony of Vanke Meisha Academy (VMA)

 

The quality of a school is determined by teachers, students, and parents. The school mission is the most important yardstick to measure the coordination among the three. Therefore, we must fully understand the mission of our school and the direction of achieving the mission. we are trying to be as specific as possible in terms of strategies to realize the goals.

Obama once said that 95% people are not willing to spend 3 days to plan their lives. However, it is extremely significant to plan your lives. And it is more important to be highly ambitious. Unfortunately, most people ignore this. The best present that VMA can give to all students and teachers is the school mission: cultivate international citizens and leaders with Chinese identity. In international community, very few Chinese people stands out. There are only two international organizations headquartered in Beijing. One is Trees Group, established in 1997. Another one is UN, headquartered in Beijing in 2002. And the international organization had been playing a crucial part in global society. Nevertheless, only four persons take leading positions there.  When it comes to technology field, such as silicon valley, Indians take most CEO positions. Chinese are hardly to find in America. T he structure of administration in lots of tech companies is like: CEO-American, upper and Middle administrator-Indian, engineers-Chinese, This remains almost unchanged all these years. What is worse, the gap has been widening. According to the statistic from UC Berkeley, and Stanford, Indian comprises about 6%. However, company of Indian leaders accounts for like33.2%. Besides, most outstanding graduates from top Chinese universities could be found in here, but the proportion of taking leading positions is few and far less than India. Therefore, VMA is committed to preparing students to be global citizens and leaders. China enjoys 5,000 years of civilization, breeding the distinctive eastern mildness and wisdom. The governing wisdom of Singapore: eastern culture and western strategies. It produced good economy and wonderful culture so the internationalization of education is not only westernization or Americanization, because what the western universities want from you is the unique Chinese element. Therefore, VMA students should not only study western wisdom, but also turn that into the most distinctive advantage. It's the first time for me to see this kind of expression in terms of a school mission, which needs courage. And now I would like to specify the mission from three aspects:

 

First, Chinese spirits:

Chinese wisdom is so broad and deep, generally, I sum it up as five aspects:

1.Yin and Yang: it is a basic principle that all tradition are based on.

2.Strong and resilient: it is an overall principle that guides interpersonal relation

3.Nature and human: are inseparable, it teaches people how to balance nature and human beings.

4.Self-control:it teaches people how to balance people themselves

 

The unique value from a Chinese and western comparison:

1.Responsibility takes over freedom

2.Obligation takes over rights

3.Group takes over individual

4.Harmony takes over conflicts

 

Two weaknesses of traditional Chinese culture

1.the lack of scientific evidence

2.the lack of democracy

 

Second，global citizens

The conception of global citizens was put forward by Kant: Everyone living on this planet are intertwined, which generated a new concept of global citizens, concerning not only the domestic issues but the international affairs and understanding all the obligation under such a globalized society

The basis characteristics of global citizens:

1.understand and respect different cultures

2.understand the relationship of all countries and the laws of their interaction

 

3.reflect on self behaviors and contribute to the global society

4.contribute to the peace and sustainability of the word

 

Third，people with great leadership

Leaders are those who lead a group of people to accomplish a common goal. All students of VMA need to be equipped with this mission. Small countries pursue to be rich and democratic，and big countries are trying to be taking more international responsibilities. The basic characteristics of leadership are:

1.conviction and mission

2.farsightedness

3.courage

4.organizing and coordinating ability

 

Prerequisite：self-leading ability

You will lose control of life if you cannot control your weight well. ---CEO of Vanke

 

A really successful leader is defined by the difficulties and problems he or she overcomes. A new goal will produce a new ability and create a new experience. What action you choose to take will determine what outcomes you will reap. If you want to have wonderful and rich experience and get into your favorite  university，come to VMA，which will definitely be the best present you can ever give to yourself，and here you will record every fantastic moment of your life. All staff in VMA will take this mission to overcome all the obstacles and finally achieve our objectives of becoming a first-rate international school.