Raising the sails
While Huang was at Masai, the Wu-Wei River Cultural and Education Association asked him to create an educational handbook on the ecosystem of Wuweigang, an area he had played in as a boy. When Huang later earned his school principal credential, he applied for and obtained a position at the nearby Yueming Elementary.
With fewer children being born, young people leaving to work elsewhere, and the neighborhood aging, Huang faced serious challenges from the moment he took the job. But the school’s proximity to the sea and to a national bird refuge provided it with an environment that few Taiwanese schools can match. “It would have been a real shame to close a school with such great environmental resources.”
“When we took the children to the Dongshan River for the International Children’s Folklore and Folkgame Festival one year, they happened to see a sailboat on the riverbank.” A trainer standing nearby explained that this kind of boat was powered by the wind, was sailed by children around the world, and was used for an event in the Asian Games. “That year, the government happened to institute a policy aimed at expanding domestic demand, so I put the idea [of teaching students to sail] to the Yilan County Education Department.” The school used government funding to purchase eight sailboats and formed Taiwan’s first elementary school sailing club.
Huang initially faced resistance from parents concerned about the dangers their children would face being out on the water. “So we took parents to watch the kids training to sail on the Dongshan River on the weekends. We also put them into the boats so they could experience sailing for themselves.”
Once parents warmed to the idea of their children sailing, the school made the course compulsory for all students from the third grade on. It went on to make sailing a graduation requirement for sixth graders. The course incorporates principles from Bernoulli’s fluid mechanics (when sailing into the wind) and parachuting (when sailing with the wind), as well as the history of maritime navigation, English sailing terminology, and literature about the ocean. Huang says the point isn’t to train future members of the national team, or even how well the children learn to sail. Instead, the focus is on the children’s personal growth and development.
From the swimming course for first-graders to the bodyboarding, snorkeling, and sailing courses offered prior to graduation, Yueming’s ocean education strengthens the children’s bodies and broadens their minds. Similarly, the challenges they encounter while sailing not only teach them to overcome their fears, but also help them to mature.
Masai Elementary School integrates fieldtrips into its courses, with each one targeting specific subject matter and content.