Chun-Yuh Yang, President of Kaohsiung Medical University,
Receives the Excellent Teacher Award and dedicates the honor to his father.
For a sum of 82 years, the father and son of the Yang family devoted their lives to education.
The awardees for the 2023 Ministry of Education's Excellent Teacher Award has recently been announced. Professor Yang Chun-Yuh (楊俊毓), the President of Kaohsiung Medical University, has been recognized with the Excellent Teacher Award (師鐸獎). This is a great encouragement to Professor Yang, who has been contributing to the field of education for 37 years. President Yang's educational philosophy was inspired by his father, Mr. Lian-Yi Yang (楊連益), who was a junior high school teacher and devoted his life to education for 45 years. He was honored as one of the top ten counseling models nationwide and received the Taiwan Provincial Outstanding Teacher Award (the predecessor of the current Excellent Teacher Award) twice. From a very young age, Professor Chun-Yuh Yang saw how seriously his father took the job and how dedicated his father was to the students. These observations made Professor Yang understand the value and meaning of taking education as a profession and became the catalyst for his decision to enter the field of education. Professor Yang also inherited his father's spirit of teaching based on each student’s ability and treated all students equally (因材施教、有教無類). When President Yang’s father taught higher-education preparatory classes, he could always get the class to achieve outstanding performances, with excellent university enrollment rates. On the other hand, when he taught non-preparatory classes, he would encourage students not to underestimate themselves and would motivate them by saying, "It's okay if you're not good at academics, but you must acquire a skill that can sustain your livelihood. We are all future business owners." Regarding receiving the Excellent Teacher Award, Professor Chun-Yuh Yang dedicates the honor to his father, who inspired him to enter the field of education. The father and son of the Yang family have both received Excellent Teacher Awards from the government. Together, they have devoted 82 years to the field of education. The announcement of the Excellent Teacher Awards represents the most precious Father’s Day gift to the Yang family.
President Chun-Yuh Yang's educational philosophy was inspired by his father, Mr. Lian-Yi Yang, who was honored as one of the top ten national exemplary counselors and received the Taiwan Provincial Outstanding Teacher Award twice (the predecessor of the current Excellent Teacher Award, as indicated by the medals in the photo).
President Chun-Yuh Yang donated all the royalties from his two books to the "Qi Fei Yuan Meng Scholarship Fund" of Kaohsiung Medical University. The fund is used to support students with economic disadvantages, allowing them to pursue their studies.
Vice President of Shin Kong Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Dr. Hung Tzu-Jen (a former student of President Yang Chun-Yuh), presented a congratulatory plaque to President Yang (Left in the photo below).