Respect is just the beginner’s level

Last week, Mr Lau talked about showing respect for our family. Since last Friday was supposed to be Respect Teachers Day, I’ll focus my sharing today on showing respect in the school setting.

Before I start, which word do you think is the most powerful word in the world? Being educated in Christian schools since kindergarten, I was taught as a student that ‘Love’ is the most powerful word. Yes, we all understand the power of love, right? But ever since I became a teacher, I began to see that it’s not easy to demand students to love everyone. I mean, even for myself, I’m still learning to love my family, my friends, my colleagues, my students, my dog, or even strangers that I meet. Basically, with people come and go and with all life encounters, we’re all learning to love every day of our lives.

After coming to this understanding, I modified my classroom rule from ‘Love’ to ‘Respect’. If ‘Love’ represents the advanced level, ‘Respect’ should be considered the beginner’s level. ‘Respect’ means being polite to others, not judging others, not having to start a fight with others even though you don’t agree with them – all these are basic manners any person should be able to manage. I’m sure no one in this hall requires further explanation.

But there’s also another very important word in this month’s theme, which is a gerund – the word “Showing”. Gerunds are pretty interesting in the study of English linguistics because although they act as nouns in sentences, they still entail an action, like a verb. Applied to our theme, it means that even though we all know what ‘Respect’ is, the more important thing is to “show” it through our daily actions. So in a school setting, what are some simple things we can do to show respect for our teachers? How about treating your homework seriously and submitting things on time? If you do have difficulty handing in your work, how about telling your teachers in person instead of waiting for them to come to you for an explanation? When you know that there are clashes in your activities, how about letting your teachers know and asking for their advice, instead of running away without leaving a word? When you hear the 5 p.m. announcement, maybe it’s not too difficult to start packing your belongings and leave school. And when the teacher on duty is outside your classroom asking you to leave, perhaps you can act immediately so that the teachers don’t have to wait for you for another 10 minutes?

Of course, the list can go on and on. Let’s also not forget we also have our schoolmates, the office staff, our janitors, the tuck shop ladies, security guards, and all the other people we see in school who work for and with us. There are also many things we can do to show our respect for them. The key point is, all these actions can be really simple and basic. Like how I described ‘Respect’ earlier, it’s just the beginner’s level.

Ms Kwan HC
11 September 2023