Mr Ho gave us what seems like an unreachable wish-list for the ideal teacher. But don't we agree with him that we really long for teachers who establish a positive, healthy relationship with the students; teach with passion and commitment; have sufficient staying power not to skip from job to job and stay on to make a difference to the students; are good role models; come up with creative, exciting and fun teaching methods; and full of wisdom and humour?

Is this too good to be true? I do not think so. Today my class-mates and I celebrate 42 years of a close and rewarding relationship with one teacher who fills almost all of the above requirements. We recently produced a DVD of photos (that span across the 42 years) and words of encouragement to remind us of the 42 years of friendship that started in a classroom and that will continue for the rest of our lives. Our values of love, integrity and how we live our lives are significantly shaped by this relationship with our teacher. Our children continue to benefit from this relationship.

How is this possible, at a time which seems so backward now, in a system that was not led and directed by star scholars? Life was much less complicated then. There were no attractive pay packages to entice, structured appraisal schemes and fat professional portfolios to fulfil and super-scale promotions to chase after. Despite this, here was a teacher who made a long-lasting difference to her students. The impact still continues and will continue for a long time.

Dr Ho Ting Fei