A principal obsessed with school history came to heaven——Ni Ruiming
2024-08-12
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Caption: Principal Ni Ruiming. Photo from Pudong Middle School website
In recent years, many colleagues who are familiar with Principal Ni Ruiming have had a feeling that Principal Ni has become particularly "obsessed" - he is particularly fascinated by the history of Shanghai Pudong Middle School where he works, and even integrated the school's history and culture into the school's distinctive development.
Today, the originally colorful homepage of Pudong Middle School has turned black and white, mourning the death of Ni Ruiming, who served as the principal for 11 years. During the past 11 years, Xinmin Evening News reporters often interviewed this well-known principal in Shanghai, but he still talked most about the school history.
Principal Ni tells the story of the school's founder Yang Sisheng (December 4, 1851 - May 29, 1908), who sacrificed his family fortune to build the school and educate talents for the country, almost every time a new visitor arrives at the school.
Pudong Middle School, which officially opened on the 24th day of the first lunar month in the 33rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (March 8, 1907), has a rich and inexhaustible school history. Principal Ni often told people: "Zhang Wentian is our alumnus, Qian Changzhao is our alumnus. Pan Xulun, the father of modern accounting in China, the famous historian Fan Wenlan, the famous historian Luo Ergang, the two bombs and one satellite hero Wang Ganchang, the great director Xie Jin, and the only Chinese physics doctor trained by Marie Curie, the famous nuclear physicist Shi Shiyuan, are all our alumni. Even the two brothers of the Chiang family of the Kuomintang studied at Pudong Middle School, and Huang Yanpei even served as the principal..."
Soon after taking office, Principal Ni began to reorganize the school history museum. Among them, the historical materials of American educator John Dewey's visit to Pudong Middle School and his speech in 1919 are precious. However, after browsing the school history museum again and again, what Principal Ni admired most was the old curriculum of the school a hundred years ago. The teaching plan at that time involved a wide range of courses, and many subjects have been "lost" in today's high school education, such as business knowledge, banking and accounting knowledge, psychology knowledge, law knowledge, Chinese studies knowledge, philology knowledge, and education knowledge. Moreover, high school science education more than a hundred years ago was not "simple" at all than it is now. Not only did it offer intermediate physics and chemistry, it also offered advanced physics and advanced chemistry for students to choose from. The calculus content in mathematics has long been deleted from the current Shanghai textbooks. What is even more amazing is that "medical knowledge and sex education" is included in the compulsory courses of high school natural sciences, which teaches basic medical knowledge and sex education knowledge. Such a systematic and theoretical adolescent physiological health education is extremely bold and advanced in its concept and practice even now. He said: "Courses are the carriers for nurturing students. Only by meeting the different needs of students can we create an education that is suitable for their growth. The answer to Qian Xuesen's question may be found in this curriculum plan from a century ago. Perhaps this is also a historical reference for the development of high school characteristics now."
At 9:18 am on September 18, 2017, as the bright red curtain was unveiled, a 1.937-meter-high Peace Memorial Bell officially appeared in the Peace Square on the campus of Pudong Middle School. This bronze memorial bell was specially cast by the school to commemorate the 86th anniversary of the outbreak of the "September 18th" Incident, to warn students not to forget the national humiliation and to pray for peace forever. On August 13, 1937, Japanese warplanes razed Pudong Middle School, which covered an area of more than 200 acres, to the ground. The school moved to No. 17 Donghu Road in Puxi today and continued to operate. The small western-style building at No. 17 Donghu Road is still preserved. It used to be the headquarters of the Youth Daily and is now the office of the Municipal Youth League Committee.
"He insisted on using history to guide the present and educate people, integrating inheritance with innovation, transforming the rich school history into curriculum resources and educational resources, and leading all Pudong Middle School people on a transformative development path of creating historical literacy characteristics. After years of hard work, the school's characteristics have become increasingly prominent, the historical literacy characteristic curriculum system has become increasingly mature and complete, and a campus cultural environment with the school history museum as its core has been formed." This is a passage from the obituary issued by Pudong Middle School today.
Ni Ruiming, who was born in 1971 as an English teacher, is a native Shanghainese. He speaks Shanghainese, Mandarin and English, and he loves to tell the educational stories written by generations of teachers and students in Pudong Middle School.
The day before yesterday morning, a principal who was "obsessed" with education came to heaven.
Xinmin Evening News reporter Wang Wei
