To Sir With Love
January 26, 2012 was a sad day. A day when we lost a great educator, an inspiring mentor and a man with a big heart – the day when our beloved headmaster, Mr. Sydney James Lowcock rested in peace.
That day, it felt as if there was a dark cloud hovering over the waiting area outside the ICU where old boys gathered together with a sunken heart, knowing very well that they could be walking alongside with their most respected headmaster on the last mile of his journey.
To me, Mr. Lowcock was truly a great educator. He taught us not to be a student scoring high marks in exams, surviving the 6 to 7 years academically but instead, living perhaps the 60 or 70 years proudly thereafter in how to becoming a better man and being a student of life.
He taught us to be brave in meeting challenges head-on and even braver in admitting our shortcomings and mistakes, picking ourselves up in failures and moving on unscathed.
To a great extent, he’s also a rebel. I remember in one occasion, a teacher brought a student into his office and recommended the student to be caned for misbehaviour. After hearing both sides of the story, Mr. Lowcock turned to the teacher and said, “it seems that you are in the wrong and that the student was in the right!”
I also remember he once told me that being a Prefect, you need to always remember “4Fs” – to be Friendly, Fair and Firm. If the first 3Fs don’t work, use the 4th one!
Indeed, you rarely see that kind of inspiring teachings and that style of charisma easily nowadays. To me, that’s what DBS spirit was built on and why DBS had become such an aspiring name.
In spite of his stern image as a headmaster, Mr. Lowcock is someone who has a big heart. Not only would he use his own money to help students who can’t afford their school fees or pay for their uniform, he would even consider the students’ emotional reaction towards such generosity. To avoid hurting the students’ ego and dignity, he would quietly open a bank account in their name and deposit money into it for their use.
This is the Mr. Lowcock whom I respect and this is the headmaster whom I adore.
It was an odd feeling when we were waiting to bid final farewell to this loving figure in the Ceremony Room at the hospital moments after his passing away. The room was unusually quiet and time seemed to have stood still, evident by the clock on the wall which was not moving. There were much sorrow but I thought there were even more love in the room.
Mr. Lowcock, thank you for shaping us who we are and showing us the DBS spirit. We are grateful in having the privilege of knowing you and leaving us with a beautiful memory of what life is truly about.
To Sir With Love
Davie Mok
Class of 1981