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LOCAL Tuesday 28 February 2023

Gershwin Lee: a headmaster who is more like a coach for his students

The teacher as well as the student are people, one believed in him when he was a child.”
and before everything, must be seen as peo- The realization that his father’s demands were
ple. That is the philosophy of Gershwin Lee, the result of trauma allowed Gershwin to ac-
headmaster of the MAVO school, Colegio San cept that the disciplinarian was simply a father
Antonio. who loved him and wanted the best for him.

Lee had just finished supervising a ‘strafmid- And these stories, Lee tells them to the students
dag’ – afternoon detention – when he spoke of Colegio San Antonio. This however does not
with our reporter. A group of students unhappy mean that it’s not necessary to recognize the
that they had to spend a Friday afternoon at difficulty that some students are going through,
school is not exactly and ideal situation, but the because often, the attitude and arrogance of
headmaster doesn’t let any opportunity go by some students hides the lack of a parent’s love,
without connecting with his students. “They feel or the fact that the family is poor. Such attitudes
that the teacher doesn’t like them, they told are reflected in the results, and sometimes par-
me. Many times it is a teacher who gave them ents have a hard time understanding this. Ger-
a low grade.” And what Lee told them was that shwin applies the same human approach with
by getting lower grades, the children reinforce the parents, some of whom sometimes come to
the bad impression that the teacher might school very angry.
have of them, but the negative consequences
fall on them. From the start, ever since he was a teacher,
Gershwin noticed that the best way to see the
He knew of which teacher the kids were talk- student, the parent, or the colleague is first as a
ing, someone who has an interest but follows person, holistically. For this reason also it is impor-
a stricter line. When the headmaster asked the tant for Gershwin to have personal contact with
kids why they don’t make an effort, the answer parents, to really get to know them. And he asks
was that “I don’t want the teacher to think that all of them the same question: “How was your
I’m a teacher’s pet”. In that moment, Lee gave day yesterday? How are you this morning, what
them a challenge, to ask the teacher directly if did you have to eat?” This way of showing inter-
he thinks they have a perspective. “I told them est tears down walls and allows him to come
that they will be surprised by the answer, be- closer to people, in order to reach the core of
cause I’m sure that the teacher will say that any conflict. A student (who is not a ‘repeat cli-
he does believe in them, as long as they apply ent’) who approaches him because the teach-
themselves.” er kicked him out of school will not get scolded,
but will be approached by a person who wants
After the conversation, Lee let the kids watch to know more about the life of the student. “I
the documentary about gymnast Simone By- see what his fears, doubts and complexes are,
les, who despite having addicts as parents who if he is afraid.”
couldn’t give attention to their child; she was
adopted by her grandparents. “The difference The way in which Gershwin Lee deals with peo-
is the mindset. The idea was for the children to ple is thus more like a coach than a strict disci-
realize that trauma doesn’t need to be an ob- plinarian. He doesn’t leave out that there are
stacle. Everyone has trauma. A child who gets rules to be followed, but in order to demand
screamed at by a teacher when he was in first adherence, Lee believes it is essential to moti-
grade because he couldn’t read well will be vate the student as well as the teacher so that
left with trauma. The point is how you deal with both want to work on improvement.
trauma.”
It might be part of his personality, but Gershwin
Perhaps the most surprising aspect is that Ger- Lee explains that from early on he realized the
shwin Lee told the students that he also experi- importance of a different approach, and he
enced a challenging youth. His father, the late followed all courses and training possible on this
Atan Lee was an extremely strict parent who area, from Conscious Discipline to yoga, which
didn’t hesitate to use physical discipline and de- provide techniques to help anyone breathe in
manded perfection at school from his children. and calm down.
Gershwin as the older of three would rebel. His The results can be seen, because Colegio San
grades in MAVO were nothing to be proud of, Antonio already has years on top of the list of
and his rebellion continued until after finishing schools with a better percentage of graduates.
HBO (Dutch equivalent to college). His father But this is not what motivates the headmaster.
dreamed of his son receiving the title ‘drs’, and “If you take the first exam period from last year,
Lee got all the way to his thesis and then decid- our school was the one with the worst results.
ed not to do it. He informed his father, who was There was the possibility for every student to
obviously disappointed, and then moved to drop their lowest grade (an arrangement due
Spain where he obtained his Masters in Business to the pandemic) and still graduate. But I told
Administration with specialization in marketing them to still take the second chance exam and
and public relations. improve their grade.”

The trajectory however made Lee realize why his The headmaster motivated his students to be-
father was so focused on his children’s achieve- lieve in themselves and assured them that they
ments. “My father grew up poor in a big family. will graduate. The result of the school in itself
A male child of Chinese heritage, who was a was not important for Lee. Rather, his objective
victim of bullying, managed to overcome and was for the students to grow and realize their
wanted the best for his children. He couldn’t potential and be happy people, an approach
believe it himself how much he achieved. No that is proven to work.q