Principal's Message 2022-2023
At the beginning of another new year, I would like to share with all of you about a value, a value which is essential to us and that’s the value of making mistakes. Many of us tend to avoid making mistakes and see mistakes as something negative, but in fact, there are benefits of making mistakes. We all have a natural fear of making mistakes, feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable. If we have to admit that something went wrong and take action to correct it, we need to have a lot of courage in order to overcome our fear and this learning process opens us up for growth and advancement. Facing our own fear can also be a sign of power and resilience for us.
Making mistakes allows us to explore alternatives. It requires us to re-examine a problem and think creatively for other solutions or approaches. Mistakes teach us what doesn’t work and encourage us to create new ways of thinking and doing. Creativity and innovation are then developed with the continuous practice of trials and errors.
However, it doesn’t mean that we just keep on repeatedly making the same mistakes. All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes. It is through mistakes that we learn how to do things right. Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When he was asked by a reporter how he felt, to fail 1,000 times, he replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Owning your mistakes and turning them into something positive does not dishonour you as a person. In fact, it elevates your standing as a brave and responsible person, just like Thomas Edison.
Albert Einstein, the great scientist, once said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Elon Musk, the founder, CEO and chief engineer at SpaceX, product architect of Tesla, quoted “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." Many of these successful people share some common qualities. Apart from making mistakes, what they possess is perseverance, hard work and discipline in order to make achievements and finally much improved life for everyone in the world.
This is why HW2 keeps on exploring different learning and practising opportunities for our students. We strongly believe that through experiential learning, students can gain extensively with the continuous trials and errors. Learning from ones’ own mistakes allows them to reflect on what they have done wrong and be smarter next time. The implementation of STEM lessons in our junior curriculum, the STREAM lessons and Food & Health Science lessons in our senior curriculum encourages our students to take this approach in their learning. Instead of being fed with different kinds of knowledge, students have to look for proper information, analyze and apply it appropriately. Students, the world out there is waiting for all of you to explore and discover. Let’s enjoy all these in our learning journey.
Ms Tse Chun Yin
Principal