PictureIdea:Mr.Macklinsyearbookpicture.

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[Feature]

AlsoaFather
ByHaileyAhn

He is known as counselor, the one that reaches out to help when needed. The one who knows
how to guide students through their stress, difficulty with their progress in school, and the
process of sending in college applications. Gray Macklin is the counselor that all high school
students at SIS are bound to encounter at least once during their school career. Even though
many students come and go from his office every day, there is one studentthathesitates tovisit
him.

Mr. Macklin, working as both the MS counselor and the HS testing service at SIS, cameacross
many students since the start of their sixth grade. Meeting with more than a hundred students
every year, Mr. Macklin knows that listening intentively to his students obstacles is solving
mostoftheirproblems.

According to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, which Mr. Macklin likes to share with his
students, he has been an Introverted, Intuitive,Thinking,Perceiving(INTP)typeofpersonsince
his seventh grade year. Mr. Macklin realizes that his introverted character sometimes creates
complications when speaking with new students every day and listening to their dilemmas with
empathy. Counselling is a job that requires a communal and sociable in order to respond to
students with abounding help. His introverted character always blocked him from doing so
especiallybecausehismotifsaresocontrarytomanyoftheviewsofstudentsandtheirparents.

Mr. Macklin understands SIS culture. He knows that people judge and place value on the
numbers that arereceivedasgrades.Butalsoasapersongrownupwithwesterneducation,apart
fromthecompetitiveandruthlessnatureofKoreaneducation,healso knowsthatnumbersdonot
symbolize anyones knowledge but just an approximation. The two ideas ofbeingabletothink
outside of the box and stepping back from the obsessiveness of gradesconvergedtobecomehis
philosophy.

Grades are our own creation. Grades do not speak to any success, knowledge, or
understanding,saidMr.Macklin.

As the testing service counselor, Mr. Macklinconstantlyremindshimselfofthecompetitiveness

of Korean culture and the percentage of survival. As a father, he takes another stance. He
believes that education is a personal responsibility, all for the benefit of oneself. If students are
not taking any risks and are falling the exact guidelineswrittenontherubrics,noimprovements
canbemade.

He tries to emphasize this idea to SIS students, but also accentuates it as a father, to his own
children. Sabin Macklin (10) is Mr. Macklins son. As a counselor, Mr. Macklin understands
how hard it is to have a parentasacounselor.ButhealsoknowsthatothersinSabinsgradeare
sometimes afraid to approach him because hisfatherisacounselor.However,asateacherinthe
school, he enjoys the privileges to get a closer insight of the school curriculum than the rest of
the parents at SIS. He is the parents wannabe as a teenagers father, getting to be in the same
communityashisownchild.

Contrary to his intentions, however, working as a counselor has brought upon a negativeeffect.
He realizes that the distance between the father and son relationships worsened due to working
as the school counselor. It cut down the conversations drastically that a regular son and father
could have otherwise. He realizeshisworkofcounsellinghadtakenawaythecomfortSabinand
himcouldhavehad.

Despite the lack of conversations, Sabin knows exactly whathisfatherwants:beinginadistinct

position, different from others.Hisfreshmanyearwasatimehereallygottofulfilhisintentions.
Trying out for cheerleading might havebeenahardchoicetomake, especiallybyateenageboy,
because he could have worriedaboutwhatothersviewhimas,butSabinknewthatitwouldgive
himachancetoshineaboveothers,nomatterwhatothersthoughtofhim.

I know that Sabin is a hard student to teach but at least he stands up for something different,
saidMr.Macklin.

Mr. Macklin recalls his high school years whenhisschoolsentirewrestlingteam,whichhehad

been part of, had to help out the cheerleaders. He knew without a doubt that even as a boy,
cheerleading was a difficult sport thatchallengedthestereotypesofbeingonlyvisual.Nomatter
how other teachers or the students in the school viewed him and his son as, Mr. Macklin never
gaveuphissupportforhissonsenduranceforcheerleading.

Having understood the Korean culture, Mr. Macklin wants to take a step back and give his son
another angle. Already, the counsellor knows that his son wants to be different from the rest of
the children. Mr. Macklin wants to add on top of that andmakesureSabindoesntgettoostuck
upongrades.Gradesshouldntbehisfirstpriority.Insteadquestioningshouldbe.

Ever since a young boy, Mr. Macklin questioned. He questioned anything he learned in school
that didnt seem to satisfy his beliefs. He questioned without doubt if he didnt understand a
concept. During his high school years, when he learned about The Scarlet Letter, he
questioned as well. Mr. Macklin thought what his teacherwasteachingtheclasswasinterpreted
contradictorily from what the author wanted to say. Looking back, he recollects thatit wasabit
immature of him to never lose his pride by pushing his reasoning continuously. However, Mr.
Macklin knows that questioning and doubting the elements that he was taught was the biggest
progresshemadeasastudent.

Mr. Macklins educational style is manifestlydifferentfromwhathedemandsfromSISstudents

and his son. Quickly picking upwhatSISparentsaskfor,Mr. Macklingivesstudentsaschedule
considering both views of the parents and students, a skill he learned, in order to overcome his
introverted personality, away from stringent parents. What he demandsfromSabin issomething
moretolerant.

It is hard to believe that Mr.Macklinisanintrovertedpersonbywhatweseeofhiminourdaily

lives. What students and teachers view him as in the hallways now, has been a result through
years of effort as a teacher and a counselor. All Mr. Macklin is hoping for is having Sabin
understand the tolerance and leniency he gets is in order tobecomeabetterstudentandwishing
foranimprovedfatherandsonrelationship.

As students of SIS, many of us onlyknowMr.Macklinasthecounselorthathelps studentswith

academic problems. Many encounter him in the hallways and often exchange greetings but
theresdefinitelyonethingstudentsdontknow.Mr.Macklinsprospectasafather.