Dear Maryknollers,

In 1921, Maryknoll Sisters came to Hong Kong on a mission to serve. Their pioneering initiative showed remarkable courage and selfless commitment: for they had come to a foreign community with a culture quite different from theirs.

Yet, within four years, they had set up a small school for local children. In another 12 years, in 1937, they opened to their students the magnificent campus the community can now admire as a historical monument of unique architectural value.

Let me then offer some thoughts on my concept of education. We often speak loosely of going to school as “ 讀書 ”, or book-learning. This is misleading. We go to school for education, for development of the whole person. In this respect, our Maryknoll Sisters have been forerunners of “holistic education”. Briefly put, their mission from the outset has been “to provide quality school education to develop the potential of our students to the full”.

Some in our community place considerable emphasis on academic attainment and, therefore, examinations. This is inevitable for we live in a competitive world. However, scholastic success is but one aspect of education. While examinations may be useful for assessment of achievement, they are not -- and must not be -- the be-all and end-all. Education is not about examination scores; it is certainly not about examination skills.

Education is the development of a person in-the-round. It is well stated in our Sisters' vision for grooming our students: they are to be “informed and innovative, analytical and critical, responsible and adaptable, moral and ethical members of society”.

To me, in everyday terms, education is about learning how to learn, learning how to live, learning how to serve and learning how to be. We must, therefore, do our level best -- as teachers, parents and school managers -- to guide our young to love to learn.

I dedicate my best endeavours to the vision and mission of our alma mater for quality education.