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HKIS kindles inquiring minds and compassionate hearts to develop service-minded students

  • While fostering the next generation of leaders, HKIS also aims to produce students who understand that their role in life goes beyond living for themselves

Supported by:Discovery Reports
Reading Time:3 minutes
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Dr Ron Roukema, head of school, HKIS. Photo: Handout

Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports

Strict traditional teaching methods can often hinder the potential of students. However, one school in Hong Kong has chosen to operate differently. Hong Kong International School (HKIS) fosters the next generation of collaborative, creative and resilient leaders from kindergarten to high school through its state-of-the-art facilities, highly qualified faculty, focus on experiential learning and American-inspired curriculum.

“If you look at our high school matriculation, the kids are very successful. They go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton – they get into the top-tier schools with no problem. But that’s not the goal, that’s the outcome of our education,” said Dr Ron Roukema, head of school at HKIS. “The goal is for our students to use their accomplishments with humility and be able to develop themselves for the service of others.”

Having nurtured thousands of service-minded, spiritually influenced, and well-rounded students for nearly 60 years, HKIS prides itself on creating a culture of educational excellence, exploration and enthusiasm to learn through its distinct K-12 approach. This approach, which encompasses academics, music, arts, and sports, allows students to master their subject of choice without fear of consequences from failure.

“Failure, in some ways, is encouraged. We want our students to understand how it feels to be unsuccessful and how to rebound from that,” Roukema said. “Sometimes, students who transfer in from more academically focused schools feel they’ve lost the point of learning. At HKIS, we’re not learning to pass tests, we learn to master given concepts non-competitively.”

In line with its mission – which is to dedicate minds to inquiry, hearts to compassion, and lives to service and global understanding – HKIS produces students who understand that their role in life goes beyond living for themselves, and that success is defined by neither financial nor academic gain.

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