Decision to Teach in Secondary Schools

I had a lot of second-hand experience of secondary teaching while I was working on my PhD. In 2010 as I was entering the second year of my doctoral program, my wife began working at the Peddie School, a boarding school in central New Jersey. We were both shocked at first that there were boarding schools in the US, having only Harry Potter as a frame of reference going in. Nonetheless, we acclimated quickly to our new surroundings, and we lived in the dorms for most of the time we were at Peddie (until 2021) .

By the spring of 2017, we had been living in Peddie dorms for half a decade. I had taught briefly as a paternity leave replacement at NYU, had done a year-long lectureship teaching Coptic at Princeton, and was currently working as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Rutgers. One of the big benefits of working at a boarding school is that you receive housing as part of your compensation; so, it made sense for me to teach at “local” colleges and universities. While I still very much enjoyed remaining at the college level, I was also jealous of how well my wife knew her students, especially when compared with the mostly anonymous crowd of students that passed through my introductory lecture courses. It was in the evenings, when I would help supervise the thirty-some Freshman and Sophomore boys in our dorm, that I recognized how much I had come to appreciate getting to know and talk with our residents. They were funny, curious, and excited to have late-night discussions on topics ranging from the existence of free will and concerns over politics to passionate reviews of recent movies and music. These sorts of conversations and the deep relationships that arose from living alongside the students you teach, coach, and mentor were the experiences that eventually led me to become an independent school teacher.

What Boarding School Has Been Like

In fall 2017 I began working at Peddie in their English department. At first, I taught a Freshman humanities course on the ancient world (ancient Near East up until the Middle Ages) and a Sophomore English course. In addition to suddenly teaching texts I had perhaps only ever read once before (e.g., The Great Gatsby, Othello, Frankenstein, and others), I was also coaching track, serving as an advisor to a group of eight students, and supervising the dorm a few nights per week. It was disorienting, humbling, and exhausting to be responsible for topics that I was very, very far from expert on and to put in a fifteen-hour shift a few times a week. The former Head of School there had a great line when it comes to the near constant demands of boarding school: “we do not expect 100% in every facet of your job and at all times. We ask for around 80% across the board; otherwise, you will burn out.”

In 2021, I moved from Peddie to the Lawrenceville School (also a boarding school in central New Jersey). Since coming here, I have continued to coach track, teach (now in a Religion and Philosophy department), and have lived in and managed a dorm as a Head of House. A Head of House (or dorm supervisor, as we were called at Peddie) is the “dorm parent” who is responsible for the thirty or so residents who live in the dorm alongside you. As a Head of House, you are the point-person for parent phone calls, late night emergencies, and all around support (education, emotional, etc.) for all residents. A typical day begins around 8 or 8:30 with classes that conclude around 3 pm; you generally teach two to three classes per day. Athletic practices begin at 3:30 and extend until 5 or 5:30. Dorm duty (which for most faculty is one night a week) begins at 7 and ends around 11:30 PM.

It really depends on the school, but there is often a great deal of flexibility in the courses that you can teach (as well as the texts/subjects you can choose to focus on). Currently I am teaching Greco-Roman philosophy, Applied Ethics, and a new research seminar for selected seniors interested in presenting and publishing their essays. Based on my own research interests and favorite authors, I have also devised or adapted several courses (e.g., Makers of the Modern Mind, Apocalypse Now, Christian Origins, and What is a Good Life?). Most classes have around 10 or 12 students (the limit is 14) enrolled. I am frequently responsible for at least one independent study per year; most recently, the topic was Coptic language and literature. That student, within a relatively short span of about a dozen weeks, worked through Layton’s Coptic in Twenty Lessons and produced a research essay and translation on Thunder, Perfect Mind, from the Nag Hammadi codices. At both Peddie and Lawrenceville (as well as at a number of their peer schools), you will find some amazingly talented and motivated students.

“Fathers Hall,” more colloquially “Pop Hall,” where the author’s classroom resides at The Lawrenceville School. [Image © Jeffrey Totaro]

If You Are Interested in Secondary Schools

Despite how much some independent schools might resemble liberal arts colleges, there are some significant cultural differences. First, it is not necessary to continue researching and writing. While these schools may offer some financial support for research and publication (e.g., I have received funds to attend conferences as well as to travel to Rome to work on manuscripts in the Vatican Library), this is not a point of institutional emphasis at either of the two schools where I have worked. This is not to say that you cannot continue to publish; since coming to work in independent schools, I have published a monograph, an edited volume, a few chapters in collected volumes, a textual edition, and a translation. The motivation to do so, however, must be intrinsic as there are no career-based incentives for doing so.

Second, you will need to be comfortable doing things outside your wheelhouse. Depending on the school, there will be varying degrees of expectation that everyone is a “triple-threat”: i.e., someone who can teach, coach, and manage a dorm. From a top-down and staffing perspective, it makes sense to hire individuals who can check as many boxes as possible. So, you may find yourself coaching a sport you last played in middle school or teaching a class that you have, at best, a passing familiarity with. Adaptability is one of the primary virtues. One of my former bosses’ favorite lines was “champions adjust.”

Third, you will need to give yourself time to adjust to what feels like a near-constant and frenetic state of business. This pace can be unrelenting at first. You might go from teaching, to coaching, to dorm duty: rinse and repeat for a whole term; and this can be exhausting, especially as you may be teaching wholly new courses. You might find yourself struggling to keep your head above water at first. It gets a lot easier the second and third years.

Fourth, Boarding Schools are a great place to raise a family. “Fac brats,” as they are affectionately called, wander freely about these campuses. They can make use of the sports facilities (pools, track, hiking trails, tennis and basketball courts, etc.) They learn a lot of independence, but there are always other faculty and even students who provide passive supervision for these roaming bands of campus kids. Your family will be able to eat all the meals they want at the dining hall, which is a tremendously helpful benefit for parents of fussy toddlers. There is a lot of leaning-in among the community of parents, with clothing swaps, car pools, and backyard parties. Some boarding schools offer day care at a reduced rate and partial or full tuition remission for faculty children.

Boarding School Might be a Great Fit for You

It’s not for everyone. Another apt turn of phrase for Boarding School Life is: “it is not a difficult job, but it is a demanding one.” Living where you work, and working where you live entails a blending of these two spheres we might otherwise want to keep separate. But the benefits, in my mind, far outweigh the costs. If you really enjoy teaching, coaching, and mentoring excited and curious young people, this might be an avenue you should seriously consider. If you have questions about teaching in Independent Schools, in particular Boarding Schools, I am happy to provide additional information.

Alex Kocar is a teacher in the Religion and Philosophy department at the Lawrenceville School. He studied Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota, obtained a Masters in Comparative Religion from the University of Washington, and earned a PhD in Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity from Princeton University. He can be reached at akocar@lawrenceville.org.