Craftsmanship Program Awarded Shanghai Educational

By Zhang Yanli

Good news comes from the theme activity organized by Shanghai’s educational system for advocating socialist core values in 2019. The “Light up the Soul of Craftsman and Step on the Road of Craftsmanship: Craftsmanship Program of Shanghai Nanhu Vocational School” submitted by Hongkou District Education Administration was awarded a “Demonstration Case” among 141 cases submitted by schools in the city.

Currently, China is undergoing a transformation from “Made in China” to “Wisdom in China”. Shanghai Nanhu Vocational School, based on the school’s conditions, created a “craftsmanship program” to cultivate student’s professional skills and practice craftsmanship in future career development.

A frustrated student gets her confidence back

“I was attracted by the school’s craftsmanship program. It changed some of my concepts. The school helped me understand what craftsmanship is and how to enhance my professional skills and practice craftsmanship spirit.” Hebo Zechen, a second-grade student of Shanghai Nanhu Vocational School, wrote in her article when she talked about what influence the schools’ “craftsmanship program” has on her.

Hebo Zechen majors in “Artistic Design and Production”. Previously, to her and her family, enrolling in Shanghai Nanhu Vocational School was a reluctant choice.

Hebo Zechen was not accepted by the school that her parents wanted her to go in senior high school entrance examination. Despite her reluctance, her parents sent her to a class to prepare for the senior high school entrance examination the next year. Up to now, Hebo Zechen is still reluctant to recall those days: numerous examination papers and questions and endless ranking of scores of Chinese, math and English. She loves painting, and she often drew paintings to relax. One day, when she was drawing paintings on a self-study course, she was severely criticized by her teacher. As a girl at a rebellious age, she broke down and refused to go to school again. She spent two months drawing pictures in her room. Not knowing what to do, her parents gave up the idea of sending her to a senior high school, and sent her to Nanhu Vocational School. At that time, even Hebo Zechen herself had prejudice on vocational school: “Never mention dreams in a vocational school,” she said.

But soon after enrolling in Nanhu Vocational School, Hebo Zechen gradually felt the glamour of vocational school. “The morning reading class here is special.” On the morning reading class every Tuesday and Thursday, Hebo Zechen and her classmates would study “Disciple’s Regulations”. This course for moral character cultivation is a part of the school’s “craftsmanship program”. It is reformed from regular morning reading class. The teachers would spend 15 minutes to bring out a fact or reason. The teaching contents are different for students of different grades. The moral education course for grade-1 students is a fundamental course. The textbook has seven chapters: “foundation”, “respect the elderly and love the kids”, “basic necessities of life” and “speak and act cautiously”; the textbook for grade-2 students focuses on honesty, etiquette, habit, communication, safety, self-discipline and gratitude; the textbook for grade-3 students focuses on career development and the modern workplace’s requirements on employee’s professional and cultural quality. The three phases have different focuses. They are independent, but are complimentary to each other, and created an effective framework of moral education course.

Specialized courses enhanced Hebo Zechen’s professional skills. Painting is not merely her hobby, but one of her survival skills. Now she is outgoing and confident, and is full of hope to her future. “Like senior high school students, vocational school students could also take the college entrance examination. The only difference is that we have determined our professional emphasis earlier and made preparation for our future career earlier. The moral education and craftsmanship activities in Nanhu Vocational School encouraged me to bear in mind my initial goals and fight for a bright future.”

Four-dimensional practices created “craftsmen”

Helping students understand the soul of craftsmanship and nurture the concept of craftsmanship is merely the prelude for the “craftsmanship program”. In the future, Nanhu Vocational School will organize students to take part in various contests to practice their professional skills. The school also guided students to practice the ways of craftsmanship by establishing craftsmanship studios, organizing craftsmanship activities, lectures and themed class meetings and organizing students to visit the workplaces of craftsmen. The school also invited model workers of China and Shanghai to organize themed activities for students, helped students know about the career development of model workers through face-to-face talks, know about the power of model worker spirit and craftsmanship and the connotation of craftsmanship, and treat themselves and careers with strict attitude and always seek for greater perfection.

In recent years, the comprehensive professional quality of students of Nanhu Vocational School improved significantly. The employment rate of graduates has been above 97 percent for three consecutive years. In 2017, the employment rate is 99.61 percent and the stability rate is 98.48 percent. The students not only have outstanding professional skills, but also high moral standards, thanks to the school’s craftsmanship program.

“I’d like to pay a tribute to you for nurturing students with politeness, solid basic knowledge, clear professional orientation and spirit of hard work and ambition. I’d like to thank you for sending practical-type talents to enterprises!” Last year, when the first CIIE opened in Shanghai, Nanhu Vocational School received a commendatory letter from Shanghai Yuanzhe Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. The interns from Nanhu Vocational School performed well in installation and debugging for security monitoring equipment and solved a lot of problems for the company. The person in charge of the company wrote a letter to the school for praising these interns.

This is not the only commendatory letter to the school. During the first CIIE, Lvbolang Restaurant, one of the most famous restaurants in Shanghai, also wrote a commendatory letter to Nanhu Vocational School. On the evening banquet of CIIE, a dessert named “Glamour of Lotus” was welcomed by guests. It is made by a graduate of Nanhu Vocational School and dessert master of Lvbolang Restaurant, Feng Yuqi and his team.

The craftsmanship program of Nanhu Vocational School starts from creating concepts, cultivating behaviors and leadership by faith and focuses on four dimensions: mind, art, way and soul of craftsman. It combines the cultivation of craftsmanship with the entire process of education and engraves craftsmanship in every student’s mind. “To a vocational school, apart from giving knowledge and skills to students, educational function is more important,” an official of Nanhu Vocational School concluded.