Kwangmyong Senior Middle School in Mangyongdae District is well known across the country for training a lot of honour students.
When Paek Sin Guk was appointed headmaster of the school 18 years ago, he understood that the school was different from others in two aspects. One was that it was closely connected with the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace and the other was that students came from different districts in the city. In other words, students were acquiring knowledge and techniques through lessons at the school and extracurricular activities at the palace, and developing their physical abilities. It is said that an excellent teacher stands behind a talent, and this is an eloquent saying indicating the teacher’s ability to raise the talent, he thought.
The teachers of the school, by the encouragement of Paek, put much effort in studies of teaching methods in keeping with the characteristic of the school which mainly consists of sci-tech circles and sports circles. In the course of this they actively developed new teaching methods including the one of improving students’ logical reasoning and practical ability, and a program aimed at developing intellectual faculties. A teacher trained students so that they have the most correct and broad thinking ability through lessons based on the questionand-answer mode. Another teacher improved their concentration using their psychology in conformity with their ages, dispositions and hobbies.
The school administration often organized discussions on teaching methods and materials, presentations of experience and inspections of classes at work. These programmes encouraged the teachers dynamically to conduct the work of improving their qualities by learning from and overtaking each other. Some teaching methods helped the students learn ten and a hundred things from one, and led them easily to find the fastest and correct answers to difficult and complex problems; those methods remarkably improved their thinking and practical ability. Those students who had won first place at national academic contests and become best players at sports competitions said unanimously that all their successes were attributable to the exact demand of their teachers who encouraged them to have a determination, will, courage and confidence to lead the world.
The school livened up. Many of the teachers became the October 8 Model Teacher while an increasing number of students won the July 15 Honour Student Prize. Demonstration courses were often arranged at the school for teachers in Pyongyang. The headmaster, however, was not content with the success. “Conceit is a taboo. Remember we are responsible for finding talents and training them with sincere effort,” he would stress.
The students of the school are now growing up into talents with both theoretical and practical abilities, and promising reserves for different sports clubs. Paek says, “My school is renowned for the work of rearing talents. We school administrators, however, feel proud only when our students become true pillars of our country.”
Now the school is redoubling its effort to develop practical and superior teaching methods.
