At the beginning of this semester, our school got a new principal, who is a middle-aged lady. She looks taller than an average woman, but in rather good shape, not the fat type we usually see among administrators. Principals come and go; I have experienced quite a few in my entire teaching career. I cannot say they are all exactly the same but to tell the truth, I never expected too much of any new principal.

However, this one seemed to be different. She deals with many things in person! When she finds that the teaching of a certain subject is not as good as it should be, she would personally attend the meetings of the teaching group! Our school moved to the present site only several years ago, and as is often the case, the new location is very far from the city proper, or rather, in a remote area of the suburbs. Therefore, to get to school early in the morning for the morning reading becomes a practical problem both for the students and the teachers. Frankly, with only resident students required to attend the morning reading and very few teachers on duty, it became kind of a formality with very little actual effect. You know what? She comes herself to see how things are going and especially, whether the teachers are on their positions. She sends a clear message by setting an example that you are supposed to do what you should do as a teacher.

You may think she must be a very serious and harsh person. No, she is just the opposite. She is actually very friendly and amiable, always wearing a smiling face. I feel, at least judging from her present behaviors, she would try her best to help us and safeguard the interests of both teachers and students so long as it is in her power. In my experience, administrators, especially the headmaster, seem to have one thing in common: They usually don’t involve themselves in the concrete teaching and student management affairs. Even when they attend a meeting of this kind, they usually give a speech which mostly contains the general guidelines or some dos and don’ts. In the daily contacts, some even deliberately keep their distance from us. What a sharp contrast!

I still remember what she said at the beginning of the first all faculty meeting. Guess what? She told us a story called the nine-cow girl. The story goes like this: In an ancient tribe, there was a wedding tradition. Young men had to prepare a betrothal gift in the form of cows, from one to nine cows according to the worth of the bride. Therefore, nine cows became a symbol of the highest award for the girl’s merits as well as physical looks.

A young man fell in love with the oldest daughter of the tribe chief, and offered 9 cows to marry that girl. The chief was quite surprised, for almost everyone believed that that girl wasn’t worth that much. So he asked the young man if he wanted to marry the youngest one instead, who he thought was much better and deserved to be the nine-cow girl. To the chief’s astonishment, the man insisted the oldest daughter was absolutely worth that much and that she was the very one that he wished to marry.

Several years later, when the chief went by the young man’s house and saw his oldest daughter, he was almost shocked to find that his daughter changed so much that he could hardly recognize. She behaved very gracefully and looked unbelievably more charming and prettier than before. Later he found out that it was all because she was genuinely regarded as a nine-cow girl by her husband and treated accordingly. And gradually the miracle was made.

After listening to the story, I realized that it was actually a Chinese version of Pygmalion Effect. She just wanted to tell us how we should treat our students as well as colleagues. That was not an only case, however. Almost at every faculty meeting, she will tell a story of different kinds for various purposes. Surprisingly enough, we teachers seem to enjoy it. After all, who doesn’t need some kind of guidance in our career and on the journey of life?

Another incident also gave me a deep impression. In our school there has been a liberal atmosphere of teaching and learning. However, everything has its own good and bad sides. Some teachers treat students a little bit “too nicely”, to such an extent that they are referred to by students as Xiao Tang or Tangtang. Some teachers even feared to criticize students when they misbehaved. Seeing this, she directly pointed out at a meeting that we should establish a sound relationship with our kids. As a teacher we do need to love and care for them, never putting on airs. However, she continued, as a student, he or she should pay their due respect to the people who have been teaching them.

I’m no expert on predicting the future. And to run a school well depends on many factors. It’s unfair to rely on one principal to improve the teaching quality of a school. It is team work, which requires efforts of all the members of the big “family”. However, a good principal does matter a lot, especially his/her teaching and managing concepts. In my eyes an ideal principal is one who can create a pleasant atmosphere where everyone has an equal chance and can inspire everybody to bring out the best in him/her. Of course, no one in this world is perfect and we have to be realistic and practical. However, I do hope this new principal will eventually lead us to success. I seem to see the first glimmer of dawn. Let’s just wait and see.