A teacher has been recognized by the Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation for devoting more than 20 years to convincing high-school dropouts to return to school.
Lee Wen-yi (李文義), a teacher at Neili Junior High School in Taoyuan, said his record was persuading 30 dropouts to go back to school in the span of one-and-a-half years.
After picking up his daughter from kindergarten, Lee would ride a bicycle around the markets to look for truants, he said, adding that his daughter would sometimes help, telling the students: “Why don’t you go back to school? My father has been looking for you, and I can’t go home until you go back to school.”
Photo provided by Lee Wen-yi
Inspired by her father’s spirit, his daughter, now a freshman at university, wants to be a teacher who looks after and educates future generations, he said.
Lee’s wife, who initially did not fully understand his “unconditional love” for wayward students, has turned into a committed supporter after seeing the number of people who were changed by his efforts.
In elementary school, Lee was a national handball player, but afterward he almost quit junior high school, he said.
However, his teacher, Hsu Shu-e (許淑娥), had not given up on him, and constantly checked on him, even after he entered a vocational high school, when he received a book from her, he said.
“I was thinking: ‘Why won’t my teacher give me a break even after graduation?’” he said.
After his military service, Lee studied at Chung Hua University for two years, before studying education at Tamkang University for two-and-a-half years, he said, adding that his experience as a camp counselor, leading junior-high and elementary school students, made him determined to become a teacher.
He earned a master’s degree in philosophy at National Central University.
Lee said his experience made him want to help lost students find their way, and that is why he focuses on influencing students who dropped out.
One student, surnamed Liu (劉), was forced to switch to a night school so that he could work during the day to help pay debt his family owed to a loan shark, Lee said.
While the police handled the illegal loan, Lee gave Liu a monthly subsidy to help him pursue a career as a national handball player and get into college.
Another student once asked Lee for help after she injured her hand while attempting to stop her mother from attacking her roommate with a knife, Lee said.
He also took the student to visit her imprisoned father, who she had not seen in 12 years, he added.
“Education is not about pouring water into a bucket, it’s about lighting a torch,” he said.
A teacher with love and compassion can be a powerful influence for students, and a teacher can be the light who shows struggling students a way forward, he added.
The Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation, founded by Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), conducts education research, offers merit-based and need-based scholarships, and presents awards to teachers for contributions in guiding students to the right track.
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