A Higher Calling

How Educator Bak-Fun Wong became a 'living legend' in Chinatown schools, and gave students a chance their parents didn't have

At the Josiah Quincy Elementary and Upper Schools located in the heart of Chinatown, Bak-Fun Wong is known as a “living legend.”

In 1999, Wong — then principal of the Josiah Quincy Elementary School — became the founding headmaster of the Josiah Quincy Upper School. By that time, he had spent decades teaching, first as an educator in Hong Kong, then, after moving to the United States, Wong was the deputy superintendent and special assistant to the superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and the curriculum coordinator of the Boston public school system’s bilingual, multicultural and English as a second language education program. He was also a principal, headmaster and paraprofessional at BPS.

“I was a little bit hesitant to lead Quincy Elementary” at first, revealed Wong, but after a couple of years, “I’d seen the system, how it operates, where things can be moving forward. I felt that I was able to contribute to the community of BPS.”

In his role as principal of Josiah Quincy Elementary School, Wong saw a need in the community.

“We needed a middle/high school located in this area so the students didn’t have to be sent all over the city,” he explained. “Children in Boston need to have consistency and longevity together. They need to learn together, build friendships together. It’s about resources, support, and time. When the kids grow up together, it doesn’t matter (if they’re) white, Hispanic, African American, Chinese. They all work together.”

He calls this educational philosophy "one dragon, all the way."

“The goal was to have students be together from K to 12.”

Josiah Quincy was the perfect opportunity to try. But it was hard going at first.

“In this area, there were no students, no teachers, no space at the time. I had to call the parents to see if they wanted to keep the students in the sixth grade,” recalled Wong. It was a slow and gradual process. In the first year the school only had sixth grade; by the third year, they had sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. “We wanted to grow the school,” he said. Eventually, the form of the Upper School took shape.

FOR THE KIDS: Bak-Fun Wong; second photo Wong and Chan inside the Quincy Upper School; third photo Wong outside the Quincy upper and lower schools. Photos by Adam Smith.

Bak-Fun Wong’s aspirations for the school didn’t end there, however. “I planned to introduce an International Baccalaureate program for the upper school,” he said.

Wong believed that the IB program was the way through which Josiah Quincy students could really prosper and excel — a result of his work with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges to observe the accreditation of international schools overseas. “I did that close to 20 years. I learned a lot from it,” said Wong.

He saw how hundreds of international schools benefited from the IB program and was determined to implement it back home.

“The reason why I chose IB is because they have the curriculum framework for K-12,” he explained, referring back to his “one dragon” philosophy. “AP is individual,” he pointed out. In contrast, IB encourages “students to be engaged and take charge of their learning.”

The ownership of learning falls not to the teacher, but to the student. “IB is creativity,” said Wong. Now, both the elementary and upper schools are authorized for the IB program.

As a Christian and elder of the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, Bak-Fun Wong’s faith also plays a central role in his work in education.

“God gave me the opportunity to see the bigger picture. If you want to change society, the community, socioeconomic status,” he said, “education — that is still the best way to do it.”

“In the Bible, there is a verse that you don’t put new wine in old wineskin. We have to have new wine, in new wineskins. New wine — the new generation — can be so good. Schools need to change in order to contain the new wine.”

His work with the Josiah Quincy elementary and upper schools is a beginning, but “we’re not done yet,” he said.

“You look at the students. They tell the story about what they learn, they want to give back to the people of Boston. The current principal of elementary, Cynthia (Soo Hoo), was my fourth grade student back when I was principal there. That is beautiful. To continue, not just the culture, but the understanding of family. That is the most important thing.”

Even after retirement, Bak-Fun Wong often returns to visit the school, now housed in a new building that has won multiple awards for its architecture and environmentally friendly design. Wong is inevitably greeted warmly by students and staff alike during a recent visit with a Sampan reporter and editor. In particular, Wong shares a close rapport with the current principal of the Upper School, Richard Chang, who carries on the work that Wong started.

“We first met at church,” Chang said. The two had worked together as colleagues for years, until Chang succeeded Bak-Fun as principal. “He’s Yoda, I’m Obi Wan Kenobi,” joked Chang.

The Josiah Quincy Upper School now sends around 90% of its students onto higher education and around 50% to an Ivy League university, according to Chang. This is particularly impressive, given that more than half of the student body are from low-income families. They’re “children of restaurant workers, (with) parents who don’t speak English and aren’t (exposed to) higher education,” explained Chang. “Students usually start from a place of, ‘I don’t want to go to college.’ They think they’re not good enough to go to college.”

“We have to reshape their thinking,” continued Chang. Echoing Wong’s educational philosophy, he pointed to the school’s Pre-K to 12 program as vital to providing a long timeline to support the students fully.

“Every suburban school has what we have,” said Chang. “We’re just trying to reach parity.”

On one such visit, Wong and Chang lingered in front of the glass case that displayed the college acceptances of the Josiah Quincy Upper School grads. The case was full with acceptance letters to Northeastern University, Boston College, University of Pennsylvania, and more — the product of the hard work of the students, but also of their educators.

“I always say ‘people ware,’ software, hardware,” said Bak-Fun Wong. “Do it according to that order.”