The principal of a middle school in Bao’an District recently turned to students for help, soliciting opinions on how to look after the school’s ducks. Within a day, the principal’s mailbox was bombarded with emails from students, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.
Yuan Weixing, principal of Shenzhen Xin’an Middle School (Group) No. 1 Experimental School, found two stray ducklings earlier this semester and put them in the school’s fish pond.
In less than two months, the two ducks had grown from fluffy little ducklings who did not dare to go into the water to full-fledged hunters who would bite the recently planted water lilies in the fish pond.
Moreover, the two ducks not only fought over food with the fish, but also ate the lotus leaves and flowers and even bit off lotus roots.
To address the problem, Yuan asked students for help and publicly solicited ideas on how to take care of the ducks. According to an open letter written by Yuan, if a proposal is feasible and adopted, the student will be rewarded in ways such as having breakfast with the principal.
Wang Jian, an 8th grader at the school, was invited by Yuan to become a member of the school’s fish pond management committee. Wang had consulted his grandmother, who runs a duck farm in a rural area in Northeast China, before writing to the principal.
After carefully studying the students’ suggestions, the school decided to temporarily transfer the two ducks to another pond for feeding. Yuan also bought three ducklings and raised them in the original fish pond so that students could still see the lovely ducks during each class break.
The school established a school ducks (fish pond) management committee Saturday and appointed teachers and students as members of the committee. At present, the school has also purchased fences to facilitate the raising of the ducks.
“Everyone is a member of the school and is entitled to make suggestions to improve the school,” said a teacher at the school surnamed Wang.
According to Wang, the principal’s move aimed to mobilize students to engage in school management and decision-making.