I have returned from my absolute, final campus visits and back and butt are recovering apace from the hours (and hours) spent on train and meandering bus to get to the remote places I was visiting over the weekend. I injured my neck doing excessive yoga a few years ago and the unnatural sitting postures required of badly designed seats are not a good thing from the standpoint of old-injury maintenance. But despite being sore and swamped with accumulated work, I'm happy. The decision has been made.

I will be teaching at a small boarding school in the Berkshires next year. It's a remarkable place--the atmosphere is at once intimate, playful, and intellectually serious; instead of laundry lists of arbitrary rules, the school is oriented--very successfully--around the principles of mutual trust and respect; it's non-hierarchical, but it also has strong leadership; it's a place where kids who are struggling in the public schools can and do find their emotional and intellectual footing; it's a place where significant financial aid enables kids who are not from wealthy families to come there; it's a place where students and faculty all do physical work--from hauling and chopping wood to working in the kitchens to scrubbing floors to landscaping--to maintain the school and to make that essential, often-ignored connection between the life of the body and that of the mind. There are sports at the school, but it's not a mandatory activity as it is at many independent schools, and the attitude toward the playing of games is refreshingly non-cutthroat (I speak as a former athlete of the cutthroat persuasion). It's a genuine community of people who learn and live together, free of bureaucratic bloat and ideological cant, and rich in the much more essential things--respect, trust, close and supportive relationships, intellectual and creative freedom--that make genuine schooling possible.

What will I do there? I'll teach English, I'll live in the girls' dorm and function as a "dorm parent," I'll do some administrative work. I will most likely be a part the creative writing program and will certainly do a lot of one-on-one work with kids on their general writing skills. I'll probably start a yoga club (one that does not emphasize the head stands that messed up my aforementioned neck). I'll have the option of initiating anything else that I want to initiate. And I'll spend a lot of down time with kids. The summers will be my own to read and write and read and write and read and write some more.

I'm not mentioning the school's name here for obvious reasons, but I do hope to continue to write about this transition as it unfolds.

The comment sections to my last two posts have contained some wonderful reflections on independent school teaching, as well as practical advice for those who are contemplating the move. Do check them out if you have not already done so, and if you are hungry for still more, you might be interested in the related reflections of Michael Berube, Liliputian Lilith, Frogs and Ravens, John Bruce (scroll down), and Diana Hsieh.

Congrats on finding a new home. I'm excited that you found jobs together.

Thank you!

And that reminds me that I should point out: Boarding schools are great places for teaching couples. They are open to couples hires, and will often work to make things happen for both if there is one member of the couple they particularly want. Those who have tried to coordinate academic careers around coupledom will know how rare and wonderful--if also totally sensible--boarding schools' attitudes are on this front. Day schools are another story, for obvious reasons.

Congratulations! The Berkshires are lovely, and I'm sure that you'll be a great addition to this school's faculty.

And, best of all, no Vagina Day celebrations. Congrats!

Congratulations, but I think you need to be aware of precisely what you are getting into. Here are some pointers from a boarding school vet:

1. Be prepared to be very, very busy when school is in session. To keep kids "out of trouble" they must be occupied and supervised almost constantly. When school is in session you will be - literally - running from the dining hall to the gym to class to the dorm for proctoring duty, and you will only begin your class prep and grading at 10pm. For nine months a year, it is exhausting. It is also rewarding. College professors (usually) don't get to watch their JV basketball team score a stunning upset...

2. Kids at boarding school can be very lonely, and they often bring family issues with them. They will expect a level of sympathy, empathy and understanding that most college teachers are not willing to meet. Can you be a warm, supportive person as well as a rigorous teacher and advisor? Are you willing to extend yourself in new - and sometimes uncomfortable - ways?

3. These places can turn into fishbowls. Kiss a certain level of privacy goodbye, and understand that the normal bounds of a community are non-existant in the boarding school world. Petty disagreements can escalate quickly, and expect almost everyone to know everything about your private life. If you think this is bad in a university environment, imagine a place where colleagues have even less time and fewer outside outlets for their curiousity and interests...

I know you'll do great, and I don't want to rain on your parade. Just an attempt to make the discussion a bit more complex... and realistic.

Prep School Vet:

Thanks for the advice. It meshes with what I know to be true and what I expect to be doing. I'm looking forward to it.

LOL:

I have deleted your comment and banned your UC Berkeley IP (which I have also recorded). Insinuating and nasty comments about my personal life and loved ones are not welcome on this site. Neither are you--whoever, in your anonymous cowardice, you are.

Congratulations Erin.
Little twerpy trolls notwithstanding, I am impressed.

I have little to add that Prep School Vet did not already state so well but add my own 2 cents.

I suspect it is easier to have a lifelong impact on a high school (prep or public)than a college student. By the time I arrived at university I was, for the most part, the person I was to become. Looking back, I have clearer and more precise (if not always fonder) memories of my high school teachers. This was doubly true in a boarding school setting. It was there that my Latin teacher was my baseball coach, where I baby-sat for my Russian teacher's children, where I developed a lifelong crush on the wife of our basketball coach - who made us popcorn and brownies while we watched the Supper Bowl etc. She is still universally adored by all who cross her path by the way.
Almost thirty-five years later I still remember clearly my Ancient Studies teacher frequent references to Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and can recite them still using my teacher's own distinctive accent. It is something we all do when I cross paths with high school classmaters.

My university professors are a blur. (That may be due in part to the sex, drugs and rock & roll).

Use your opportunity well and I am sure that your students will share similar memories of you in years to come.

Ach!

Godspeed in your pursuits. Yet another dissenting voice in academia that gets silenced (at least the inside information part). Please say that this is not the end of Critical Mass.

Best of luck

WG

PS: Any more installments of the hilarious "Pictures from an institution" series?

Erin, one unsolicited thought on the little troll post you so rightfully deleted.

It is precisely that kind of petty, small, sanctimonious, self-righteous attitude that you now leave behind. No doubt the elfin creature has not reflected at all on the stunning hypocrisy of [presumably] defending personal freedom (be it World Bank protests, sex, abortion, drugs, gay marriage, or whatever) in the P.R. of Berekely in his/her public personna whilst attacking the privacy of the family of one whose views do not meld with his own. It would be vicous if it wasn't so lame.

Last, in lieu of making a submission to the Atlantic Monthly, perphaps you can coin a word for little people like that. I think the word should be the mirror image of schadenfreude, one who takes joy in the misery of others. In this instance the troll experiences misery in the happiness of others. That is the word I need you to coin. Any suggestions?

Ivan

Best wishes on this move. Teaching will be front and center in your life in what I know will be a satisfying manner. I have a relative who made the move you're making now many years ago and I think it was very satisfying for him.

Erin, I agree with Stolypin's comment to you above. The teachers who had the greatest impact on my life were my prep school teachers. I remember them all and still see many of them socially. They made a difference for me. You will have that opportunity now. I have limited recollection of my college professors, with a couple of exceptions, but you are now eligible to join the pantheon of the great teachers. Sorry for the hyperbole. Best of luck and I hope you enjoy making a difference in a small community.

Please write about it? I'd love to read your reflections and reactions to the change! Besides, what would I do with my mornings if not for your spirited defense of free speech on campus?

Schools like the one that you're going to be teaching at are precious. I attended one, and while it didn't work out for me to stay there, the experience was wonderful and changed me for the better.

You're going to be in the position to really make a difference in kids' lives. I'm very happy for you and for the kids that you'll be teaching.