14 minute read
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER
Montgomery McIntosh ’24, Interviewer Eleanor Gamalski ’11, Editor
KIT AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER
What was your educational experience like—and what were you like as a student?
That’s a good question! I was identified early on as being gifted — similar to many Roeper students, I suspect My experience from elementary school up to sixth grade was sometimes frustrating and other times fantastic I was really fortunate to have teachers who understood me — and were willing to kind of work with my unique perspectives The more frustrating part was that I didn’t connect with a lot of my peers who were interested in different things and had different attitudes towards school In sixth grade particularly, I remember spending more time with my teachers than my peers
That really changed for me when I changed schools in seventh grade to University of Toronto Schools (UTS), a sort of laboratory school for gifted students at the university campus It was really dramatically different I was among other students who identified as being high academic achievers Our teachers had specialized training and a program that really catered to us Our curriculum was accelerated, and we had lots of choice and really great opportunities It was a small group of cool students and great teachers In fact, many of my high school teachers from UTS are still good friends of mine! A person named Dr Betty Buchanan taught me geography She was my most important influence in becoming a teacher, and we are still very close today
How do you think your previous experiences as an educational leader will compare to your new position as the Roeper Head of School?
That’s a tough one I went back to teach at UTS first as a classroom teacher, then as a department head, then I moved into a unique role as the Director of Problem-Based Learning, which was a big focus for the school When I left, I was also the academic administrator responsible for curriculum design, research implementation and university partnerships I left there and went to Bayview Glen, which is a very different kind of school — larger than UTS, with a pre-kindergarten to grade 12 program Pretty much all my experience to that point had been in high school or middle school I started at Bayview as the Director for Teaching and Learning in the middle and upper school Then I became the Assistant Head of School for Academics for the whole school, and after doing that for a year, I became the director of the upper school
I think all those experiences have prepared me for Roeper in two ways One is that I have lots of experience working with gifted students, and teachers working with gifted students Second, I’ve had the opportunity to see a whole school function — not just leading an upper school, but guiding and administering a whole school environment So, I think I’m coming with experience and insights, but at the same time, Roeper is a unique place and I’m coming from a different context I’m coming from a different country where the rules and expectations around curriculum and instruction are different, and the culture is different
I’m conscious of those differences, and in fact I was attracted to Roeper because of them It’s not just that it’s a unique institution I saw in Roeper an educational setting where there is considerably more freedom to innovate, and to think differently about how and what students are studying, than I’d experienced in Ontario — even in an independent school
A big part of the Roeper philosophy is valuing compassion as much as competence, and empathy as much as excellence. It is a philosophy for education and life. Why do you think this aspect of Roeper is important?
That aspect of Roeper is important to the world and also important to me Schools have become very focused on preparing students for the world of work, and we’ve defined success very much in terms of economic success Those things are important of course, but I think as a society — and I think this is true in Canada as well as the
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United States — we have forgotten the first and foremost goal of educating people to go out into a community
As someone who spent most of his career as an educator in independent schools, one of the tensions for me is that we want to be inclusive — but by definition, independent schools are exclusive Even Roeper is to some extent an exclusive institution, in the sense that we teach gifted students, so we’re selective about who we admit But the school doesn’t stand apart from society People have lives and work outside of Roeper, and when students leave Roeper, they will enter a broader community So I think it’s crucial that we offer a full range of skills, not just the knowledge to be successful at work
A former president of the University of Chicago, Robert Maynard Hutchins, talked about the purpose of school as being to educate citizens He said it’s the job of companies to train people to work, but it’s the job of schools and universities to educate people — and there’s a distinction between the two In a liberal arts education, we see the value of educating citizens that can contribute to this larger project that is democracy I know we teach Latin here at Roeper “Liberal” comes from libertas meaning “freedom” Liberal arts education is the education of the free — and what makes us free in a democracy is that we have a say in what goes on So, if we have faith in democracy — and I know faith that can be shaken sometimes — we need to have people who are educated to make thoughtful decisions for themselves as well as others
At Roeper we highlight the idea of education for life. How do you demonstrate being a lifelong learner?
If you look at my biography, you’ll see it doesn’t focus on where I’ve worked It’s about what I’ve studied, and I think that’s what is important Maybe it says something about me and the way I think about learning I love to soak up information about all kinds of weird and esoteric topics I get bored when I’m not learning new things Sometimes I’m learning new things formally, taking courses and getting degree certificates Other times, I’m just diving into interesting reading You can see on my shelf here, there are some books about history, some about economics, some about systems thinking, and there’s a whole new section there about Detroit So, I think it’s about reading and exploring Sometimes you need to take that formal course to get a credential, but that’s not really the key piece of lifelong learning The most important aspect to me is having interesting conversations with people who know different things from what I do I’m constantly trying to find people who think differently, and know things I don’t, to learn from them
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How do you think that mission of fostering lifelong learning can translate to a student’s daily life?
I think we need to have teachers who are invested in their own learning first and foremost I went to university to learn a bunch of stuff about economics When I was done with my degree, I came to teaching, and I simply imparted to students what I had learned in university about economics And that was seen to be enough I don’t know if it was enough then, but it’s certainly not enough now
Education is not just about transmission of information, because information can be found everywhere You could learn much more than I could ever tell you simply from looking at your phone You’d never need me if all teachers were going to do is transmit information learned by someone else in the past
We in the classroom need to model the fact that we are lifelong learners We need to be excited about learning and creating experiences in the classroom where students are excited about learning as well The most important thing students can leave Roeper with is passion, and the realization that the world is a dynamic place, so the learning can’t stop In our world, you can’t get away with not being a lifelong learner anymore So, how do you inspire people to be lifelong learners? You could be dragged along by the world as someone who was forced to be a The most important thing students can leave Roeper with is passion, and the realization that the world is a dynamic place, so the learning can’t stop. In our world, you can’t get away with not being a lifelong learner anymore.
lifelong learner, or gets left behind — or you could be excited about it I think that’s the thing teachers have to do the most is get students excited about learning — whether it’s learning the things we know are important, or the things students feel are important
Even though things like having the top SAT or ACT scores aren’t necessarily emphasized at Roeper, as a school we have to appeal to the outside world for enrollment. As an administrator how can you balance those needs?
That’s a challenging one It’s something I think all schools struggle with Lots of schools will say in their mission statements that we create “graduates of character” or “socially responsible global citizens ” But what we sell to prospective parents is “x percentage of our students went on Ivy League universities,” “this is the number of AP scholars we have,” “these are the SAT scores,” —and all of those kind of things
I think the way you address that tension is by saying that students who are excited about learning, who are committed to going out and making a difference — they really value their learning So, they will naturally get to those universities and post-secondary destinations that allow them to fulfill their purpose Their SAT scores will demonstrate their passion What we do is light the fire within the students to get there Our goal is not to drill students into success, it’s to inspire them to succeed This may be a controversial point of view — and yes, we live in a world of economics where we need tuition dollars to come into the school, and we need students to teach here, or else we can’t fulfill our purpose But if what you are looking for as a prospective family is a ticket to a particular postsecondary destination, and the guarantee of a job — there are other schools that promise that and maybe will do that better That’s not what Roeper is about We’re about inspiring people to go on and do great things however they define great for themselves We’ve been hiring some new teachers over the course of the summer, and one of the things that strikes me is the number of people I have interviewed who are Roeper alumni who want to come back and teach here It says something about the enduring value of this place to those people — but also that we’ve inspired them to be the kinds of learners we want them to be
As you may have noticed, Roeper kids certainly like to talk a lot and have their opinions heard. I know since you are new in your role, you’ve had a limited amount of time to speak with students, but I’m curious about what you’ve learned from your conversations with the student body and the impressions you’ve gained.
First of all, my impression is that students take their Roeper education very seriously — and their role in shaping their Roeper education very seriously One of the first things I read when I came into this office was a stack of letters from Lower School students They were all introducing themselves to me and had very serious questions about my vision for the school “Here’s something you should know about me, Christopher, and here’s a question I have for you ” Some of them were about snow-ball fights, and some were about the future of the curriculum Whatever they wrote about, it was clear that students feel very deeply about their education and want to ANTHONY MORROW have a say in it — and that’s important to me If we care about the things that we say Roeper stands for — and I do — then I need to hear from students Because it’s not about setting a single path for anyone here It’s about inspiring and engaging our students And you’re always much more inspired and much more engaged in a place where you feel like you have some input into what is going on Now, does that mean that we are always going to agree on everything? Absolutely not But it goes back to what I said before about wanting to learn from people who think differently,
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or who know different Even if the decision we come to is not the decision that you would have made on your own — and hopefully not the decision I would have made before I got your input — we’ve arrived at something better
What excites you the most about your new position?
This is not a very intellectual answer — but I just have a sense of this place as remarkable, fantastical, and unique I’ve only really been here a month and a half — and every day, I talk to somebody who has a new and interesting idea that I haven’t thought about yet And equally, they are curious about what I’m thinking So, what excites me most is the opportunity to be curious with other people who are curious
That’s the end of the serious questions. What’s your favorite book?
My wife always gets frustrated with that I have a hard time pinning down a single favorite thing Because I like different kinds of things for different reasons (maybe even at different times!)
I vacillate between very serious nonfiction books when I’m in a certain mood, and not-very-scholarly books at other times I just finished reading The Night Manager by John le Carré I do like spy novels I’m a big fan of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and those kinds of pulpy, 1930’s detective books But also more serious literature If I had to pick one that kind of stands out — there’s a weird one called The Master and Margarita, a translation of a Russian book about the devil visiting Moscow in the 1930’s I don’t know if that’s my favorite, but certainly kind of a standout Then I’ve got all kinds of more technical books about thinking and planning and learning In particular, books about being part of organizations that learn
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Do you have any crazy activities that you dream of trying one day?
Well, I’ve never been skydiving That’s always sounded really exciting, and that might be the craziest thing I would try I also love to travel with my wife I have been all around the world, but there are some unique destinations that I’d still like to go to I’ve never been anywhere in South America, although we’ve been all over Asia and Europe and places in North America
How is the transition from Canada to the U.S?
This is funny because I think superficially, we don’t see Canada and the United States as all that different, but there are some unique things about the two countries People are going to be picking up different things in my spelling for the next little time You know we add extra u’s to words in Canada! And I’m sure the fact that I pronounce schedule as “shed-ule” isn’t going away anytime soon But by and large , I haven’t experienced that big kind of culture shock I’m glad that people say “pop” (not soda) in Michigan!
The other part of the transition to any new place is just getting settled I’ve got an apartment in Midtown Detroit For the time being, my wife is staying in Toronto where she’s a lawyer, so I’m starting on my own in a new space Right now, I’m living a bit like I’m in a college frat house I had an air mattress for a while, and my real mattress has arrived but the bedframe was missing some parts So, I’m just sleeping on the mattress on my living room floor now, waiting for the rest of the bed to show up I’m gradually stocking up the fridge I successfully got my Social Security number and my immigration paperwork, which was a big challenge So it’s taking time to adjust, but it’s going really well I’ve been really lucky to have lots of people available to answer all my questions and point me in the right direction F
At his first Roeper all-staff meeting, Christopher shared the awe (and slight sense of kinship) he felt the previous evening at the wholly surprising appearance of a praying mantis — on the window of his 11th floor apartment in streaming rain — as it carefully made its way up the window en route to an unknown destination.
