The College Scene
Head’s Weekly Letter – February 9, 2012
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Dear Academy Families,
As some of you might recall, every February I attend the annual meeting of The Headmasters Association, founded in 1893 for what were then a cohort of all-white male headmasters of mostly New England boarding schools. Today it has 100 active members, men and women of all backgrounds and from a national draw, with 50 members being heads of independent schools and 50 being public school superintendents or principals, plus about 50 more associate and emeriti members. Each year we have a theme on which we invite illustrious speakers to share their knowledge and experience.
This year’s theme was “The College Scene,” and we heard from four college presidents with wide-reaching experiences:
- John M. McCardell, Jr. (president of Sewanee, The University of the South, and formerly president of Middlebury College);
- M. Lee Pelton (president of Emerson College here in Boston and formerly president of Willamette University in Oregon);
- Kent John Chabotar (president of Guilford College, and formerly vice-president of Bowdoin College and a professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education who taught our own John Friborg); and
- Carol “Biddy” A. Martin (president of Amherst College and formerly chancellor at Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison and a top administrator at Cornell).
While they covered a range of topics – from the stressful economics of tuition to the stressful social life of undergraduates – it was the many bon mots that I would like to share with you. So here are some telling remarks, either by one of these four college presidents or by someone one of them was quoting:
- “One reason [fill in a prestigious university name]is considered a storehouse of knowledge is because students come in having so much knowledge, and leave knowing so little.”
- “The future is not what it used to be.”
- “A fully prepared faculty is like a fully equipped aircraft carrier.”
- “Where there’s a will, we want to be in it.”
- “Being a college president is no way for an adult to make a living.”
- “College presidents are the ones who live in mansions and go begging for money.”
- “Often you don’t learn what is enough until you learn what is more than enough.” [This one is my personal favorite.]
I think you get the gist of their presentations, and I can assure you the secondary school leaders gave back as good as we got, during our lively Q&A sessions after each speaker. Ain’t education great!
Warm regards,
James S. Berkman
Head of School
