Singer and actress Rene Liu (劉若英) paid a visit to a rural school in Pingtung County and hosted a talk after reading a Facebook post by a high-school dean.
Two months ago, National Pingtung Senior Girls’ High School dean Huang Tsai-hung (黃再鴻), frustrated by numerous failed attempts to convince celebrities and intellectuals to visit his school, took his grievances to Facebook.
Hsuan wrote an article titled “Give the children in Pingtung a chance,” saying that Pingtung and Kaohsiung are on the same latitude, and that many writers and renowned people are willing to visit Kaohsiung, but are reluctant to cross the Gaoping River (高屏溪) into Pingtung, because they expect to be greeted by an “endless cultural desert.”
Photo: Luo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
He said that if people were to give the children in Pingtung — who are in their own way kind of heart and brilliant — a chance, people would find that the children only lack the opportunity to improve themselves.
“Give the children in Pingtung a chance to let the seeds of knowledge embedded within books grow into towering trees in support of whatever life might throw at them,” Huang said in his post.
Huang said that his high school had always sought to motivate students through studying biographies of successful people, but his attempts to invite the authors of the books were hampered by the school’s location.
While some prominent figures, like Internet celebrity Lucifer Chu (朱學恆), authors Chien Chen (簡媜) and Wu Sheng (吳晟), gladly accept invitations, others tend to refuse, Huang said.
The school once invited a writer and the teaching staff prepared a reading project proposal, but the invitation was turned down by the writer’s agent saying that the writer did not feel well, Huang said, adding that he later found out the writer had appeared at a lecture at a university in southern Taiwan on the scheduled day.
During her talk on Wednesday, Liu encouraged students to find their own path, adding that despite obstacles in life, everyone can learn to play to their strengths and their character.
Chu shared Huang’s article on Facebook and said that she plans to visit the school again next school term, making it the third visit to the school for the Internet blogger and translator.
“It was moving that the school did not have to pay for the talk,” Huang said, adding that he was grateful to all the people who were willing to give the students a chance.
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