Living Museum of Learning
The First Time I Wrote on Fuzhou High School's Blackboard
In the summer of 1979, I transferred from the mountains of northern Fujian to a school in the outskirts of Fuzhou.
Within two years, I became the top student in my middle school's entrance examinations.
That journey led me to Fuzhou High School.
More importantly, it led me to Mr. Zhang Jiande.
On his very first physics lesson, Mr. Zhang drew two rectangles connected by a line.
"A truck pulling a trailer," he said.
Then he asked the class to draw the force diagram.
I no longer remember whether I raised my hand.
But I remember something else with absolute clarity.
My eyes lit up.
Mr. Zhang noticed.
He invited me to the blackboard.
With a piece of chalk in my hand, I drew my very first force diagram on the blackboard of my new school.
Looking back, I realize it was more than a physics problem.
It was the first time I wrote a dream onto that blackboard.
Later I learned that Mr. Zhang also lived on campus.
His dormitory was only separated from ours by the school cafeteria.
He never spoke loudly.
He never hurried.
What I remember most was the quiet confidence with which he looked at students.
That brief moment of trust stayed with me for decades.
Three years later, I entered the Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University.
Mr. Zhang later became the principal of the school.
Yet the image I treasure most is neither my admission letter nor his promotion.
It is a teacher standing beside a blackboard, giving a new student a chance.
Great teachers do more than explain ideas.
They notice people.
A lesson may last forty minutes.
A moment of recognition can last a lifetime.
When I look back on my own years of teaching, I often wonder how many times I have been fortunate enough to recognize that same light in a student's eyes.
Because someone once recognized it in mine.
A single classroom moment can shape the direction of an entire life.
Great teachers recognize curiosity and invite students to participate, not merely observe.
The confidence a teacher gives a student can outlive every lesson that follows.