(Minghui.org) I have been a math teacher in a township school for a long time. Before I started practicing Falun Gong, I always suffered a severe cold after each mid-term exam due to my heavy workload; each time, I had to be hospitalized for five or six days and be put on an IV drip.
In the spring term of 1994, our school principal invited two colleagues who were practicing Falun Gong to give us an introduction to the practice after a staff meeting.
They told us that practitioners need to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their daily conduct and do the five sets of exercises, and that the practice could help people uplift their morality and improve their health.
I was very interested, but didn’t take up the practice at the time, as I was not living on campus.
Later, through working with the two colleagues, I felt that they were very nice people. They had upstanding character and did not smoke, drink, gamble or swear. They were very easy to work with because they never made things difficult for others; they were not snobbish and never talked about others behind their backs. They treated people with sincerity and kindness, and were always ready to offer a helping hand when needed. Put simply, they were the kind of people you could trust 100%.
I was promoted to be a head teacher in the autumn term of 1994 and was offered a dorm on campus. Some teachers did the Falun Gong exercises in an open field near the dorms after the morning exercises with the students. I followed along and got into the practice.
I conducted myself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my daily life and work, and pretty soon, I saw results. Even though my workload had become even heavier now that I was a head teacher, I never fell ill after exams as I did in the past. In fact, I have not taken any medication since then and all my colleagues are impressed by my good health.
Jiang Zemin began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. China was permeated with lies and slanderous propaganda about the practice.
Anyone who has read the book Zhuan Falun would know that cultivators would not kill, and that committing suicide is considered a sin. So the lies and fake TV programs such as the “Self-immolation at Tiananmen Square” could not shake the faith of genuine practitioners.
However, I did feel pressure from people around me – my family was also afraid due to the implication policy of the Chinese Communist regime.
After some serious consideration and thinking, I made up my mind that the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are the most righteous and cultivation is a serious matter. I would continue to practice Falun Gong!
Under Master's protection, I have pulled through the tough times, and I have benefited from Dafa along with my family and students. I would like to share a few stories with you.
Practicing Falun Gong has opened up my wisdom, and my way of thinking has become clearer and more flexible. I feel that I have experienced a qualitative leap in terms of teaching skills and academic standards. I seem to be able to solve any problem or difficulties I encounter in teaching.
The teaching aids and coursework I developed have helped turn abstract concepts into concrete, teachable ones, and made dull topics come to life. I’m always able to find a breakthrough in dealing with difficult topics in teaching, and can give in-depth yet easy-to-understand explanations that students could work out logically.
My students’ performance in math is way beyond other classes, and in the end the school asked me to only teach specialized classes for top-performing students.
Our school organizes demo classes every term and I am always selected to present during such classes.
Once our school organized an activity to assess the teaching practice of young teachers. In the trial session, the young teacher in my preparation group did not do well. Our grade director became very worried and asked me to help him.
The young teacher and I had a good discussion about his teaching plan and he also changed his coursework based on my advice. In the end, this young teacher won first place in the overall assessment. He said in front of all our colleagues that he admired my creativity and admired my character even more.
Once, the education team leader in the area came to our school to observe our classes. He was not very satisfied with the classes he sat in on, including the one given by the school principal.
Teachers were doubting the principal’s credentials and commented behind his back: “I wonder if he has ever taught a class by himself. Maybe he is only good on paper and knows nothing about actual teaching.”
After the team leader listened to my class, he said that it was a joy to listen to my class.
Later, the team leader said jokingly at a general assembly of all the teachers of our school, “Our school only has one and a half teachers.”
He referred to me as the “one teacher” and another teacher as the “half teacher”, indicating that all the other teachers, including the school principal, were not worthy of the title of “teacher” by his standards.
The Education Bureau in our city has attached great importance to the National Primary School Mathematics Olympic Competition and use the awards achieved in the competition as assessment benchmarks.
Our city schools and a few key township schools usually start choosing talented students in grade three and form Olympic math classes in grade four. Students are trained with special math materials so that when they participate in the competition in grade six, they have already acquired the extra knowledge, ability, methods and good learning habits needed to succeed in the competition.
Meanwhile, the tutoring teachers for these special classes have also accumulated certain materials and experience. So it is only natural that those students usually do well in such competitions.
The education team in our township did not pay much attention to the competition activities in the beginning, but had a change of heart later.
They selected a group of grade-five students through exams from various schools, formed a grade-six Olympic math class in our junior high school and asked me to be their teacher.
I found it a bit difficult, as we started much later than other schools and I had little experience in tutoring students for the primary school Olympic math competition. Besides, our school had no relevant coaching materials for such a competition.
I shared my concerns with the school leaders, but they insisted that I should take it on. As a Dafa practitioner, I thought I should accept the difficult task and do the best I can.
Math was the key subject for this class and for months I was the only teacher who had to do all the teaching, coaching and administrative work. I followed the Falun Gong principles in my conduct and in guiding the students.
Occasionally, there were a few students who were lazy or copied answers from others. I would tell them to be truthful and hardworking and not be lazy or cheat. Sometimes, there also conflicts among students. At such times, I would talk to them about “compassion and tolerance,” telling them not to think negatively about others but to be kind and understanding.
When tension and pressure built up before exams, I would try to calm them down, telling them to regard the exam as just doing homework in a different place, and that they should focus on doing their homework well and let things happen naturally. I also told them not to go after fame or ranking.
The children have a good nature and they understand that I genuinely care for them, so they listened to me.
They helped each other in their studies and kept away from discrimination, showing off or competing with one another. They helped me wipe the blackboard and tidy up the podium and teaching aids during breaks. When I went out to print out something, they did not need anyone to discipline them; if they felt they were a bit behind in their studies, they would look within to find their own shortcomings.
Once a male student confessed to me that he did something wrong because he broke a bamboo pole in a neighbor's vegetable field.
Before bedtime after the evening self-study session, the junior high students always played outside their dorms, but my students would sit quietly on their beds, reviewing what they had learned during the day until lights out.
During the evening self-study session the day before the competition, I told the students to relax and showed them pictures of Falun Dafa spreading around the world. I also read them Master’s biography at the back of the book Zhuan Falun.
Thirty of my students participated in the National Primary School Mathematics Olympic Competition held in April 1999.
When the results came out, two of my students got full marks and were awarded the “Grand Prize”; ten won the 1st Prize; ten won the 2nd Prize, and five won the 3rd Prize.
During summer vacation, the two “Grand Prize” winners were invited to participate in the National Primary School Mathematics Olympic Summer Camp.
It was the first time that our township made such big achievements, which surpassed the performance of prestigious city schools. It was such a big honor for our local area.
I know deeply inside that the wisdom and ability displayed in my teaching and students’ performance come from the power of Dafa and the Fa principles.
Before my son took the high school entrance exams, his teacher said that it was a bit risky for him to apply for the best high school in our city, because if he failed to reach the score for admission, we would have to pay a lot of money for him to study there.
The results came out and my son achieved a total of 513 points, still a bit lower than the admission score his teacher predicted.
I said to my son, “5.13 is World Falun Dafa Day. You believe Dafa is good and you got 513 points. You will be fine and the school won’t charge extra money from a Dafa practitioner’s family.”
Indeed, when the admission cutoff was announced, my son’s mark was nine points higher.
At the high school, his ranked somewhere in the middle of his class of 70 students. Later, because he slacked off in his studies, he fell behind.
In the second half of his senior year, he realized that he needed to catch up and made much progress, and his marks got higher and higher.
However, his teacher still discouraged him to try to get into key universities for fear that he might not do well on the entrance exams.
Before the exams, my son helped his teacher quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. He also withdrew his Youth League membership from his head teacher.
When he went to take the exams, he took the “Falun Dafa is good” amulet with him.
He did well and his scores exceeded the admission mark for key universities and was admitted to his top choice university. His teacher said that my son greatly exceeded expectations and that he was the luckiest in his class.
Now, my son is working at a large foreign company with good pay and a bright outlook. He often travels overseas for work and studies. All our relatives and friends say that my son has been very fortunate!
Even though my husband is not a Falun Gong practitioner, he knows that Falun Dafa is good and is very supportive of me. As a result, he has also benefited from Dafa.
He likes drinking, and once while riding his motorbike after drinking, he fell into a ditch.
X-rays showed that several of his ribs were broken and his lungs were bleeding. He needed emergency treatment to draw out the blood inside him from the internal bleeding.
The doctors cut open his clothes, connected him to various machines and made two incisions. They drew out two big vials of blood.
His colleagues went to the accident scene and saw a number of big rocks in the ditch. They all said that he must have been protected by some higher beings, because he would not have survived if he had hit any of the rocks in the ditch.
My husband recovered very well and everyone said it was a miracle.
Now my husband has gotten a new job, which is rather slow-paced with a good salary. He really likes his new job, and to express his gratitude to Dafa, he has hung a Dafa amulet in his office.
I’m immensely grateful to Master for his compassionate protection and salvation. I wish for all kindhearted people to recognize that Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.