Widely considered one of the best preparatory private schools in the United States, Deerfield Academy is located in a scenic small town in central Massachusetts. Slated tuition and fees are nearly $75,000 a year for boarding students. The school’s endowment, almost $1 billion, helps students with financial aid. Admissions is difficult and exclusive. Many think it well worth the effort, for Deerfield alumni are well-represented at the nation’s top colleges and universities, which means influence and affluence in later years. The academy’s core values are citizenship, face-to-face interactions, connectedness, reflection and balance, pursuit of mastery and shared experiences. Deerfield’s mission is to “prepare students for leadership in a rapidly changing world that requires global understanding, environmental stewardship, and dedication to service.”
Much of Deerfield’s success, particularly through the twentieth century, rests on the shoulders of a longstanding headmaster, Frank Boyden. His first day of employment at Deerfield was August 12, 1902. At the time the preparatory school had a bad reputation, a poor relationship with the surrounding town, and very little money. A school for farm boys, Deerfield Academy did not know if it needed a new head master or an undertaker – or so stated one of the trustees. It turns out that the school needed Boyden, an unprepossessing man with no formal expertise who turned out to be an extraordinary educator.
In the mid-1960s, John McPhee wrote an article for the New Yorker magazine about Boyden. McPhee later expanded the piece into a short book, a “portrait” with an unassuming title: The Headmaster. McPhee spent a year at Deerfield after completing a degree at Princeton, seeing Boyden’s impact first hand. McPhee, an originator of creative nonfiction, writes with tremendous clarity and nary a useless word or description. His is the perfect voice to tell the story of the headmaster and his extraordinary legacy.
Boyden graduated in 1896 from Foxboro High School. Only sixteen, he started working in a grocery store until a desire to continue his education led him to Amherst. A fire wiped out the family business and finances, so Boyden worked to pay for college (Amherst). He took the position at Deerfield to save money for law school, a goal that was never realized.
Boyden initially tamed behavioral problems in the school with athletics – lots of them. He steadily started creating structure and a different culture for Deerfield. In 1907 Boyden married Helen Childs. A local girl and Smith graduate who joined the school to teach Science and Math, Helen was an outstanding educator. The Boydens had three children and their lives revolved around Deerfield and its students. Helen’s focus was the classroom. Frank’s interest was in everything else. He tended to the campus, the employees, board and organization. He coached and played athletics, organized concerts, plays and events. The extra and co-curricular was his realm. Boyden knew every boy and was everywhere at Deerfield for sixty-six years.
McPhee emphasizes Boyden’s moral instruction, helping boys become better people – responsible, reliable, and mature. In his daily actions, and in the larger arc of his life, Boyden was a model, an exemplar of service, or servant leadership. Frank’s vision, leadership and extraordinary work shaped the students, the school and the town. Deerfield earned a reputation for excellence, turning out very strong students who may or may not have come to the school with checkered histories. Over time the headmaster’s recommendation was enough for a student to gain admissions to Princeton or another fine institution. By the 1960s, Deerfield was considered one of the best schools in the country. The school, in many ways, reflected Boyden’s own journey to excellence.
McPhee teases out Boyden’s brilliance through concrete examples, coming at his subject through angles. Boyden did not stand out physically; nor was he one for splashy oration. Nonetheless, he sounded and acted like the headmaster with consummate commitment. He was patient, curious, charming and able to coax the best out of students, teachers, employees and others. Boyden’s “pantoscopic attention to detail” added up, McPhee explains, to a strategy. Everything in the school fell under his watchful eye. The boys were treated with respect, for the college expected – and assumed – respect. McPhee wrote that Boyden was a master of imagery, in how a student should dress and look, in what a school event should convey, and in how external cues shaped behavior and internal thinking. This was all done without flashiness. The crafted images had integrity and were based on lived values. The collective impact of all those scripted details had a powerful impact on Deerfield’s students. The graduated to purse impressive careers, from diplomats to lawyers to entrepreneurs to writers. They also were generous as donors.
Frank Boyden gave less attention to the curriculum. He sought to shape curious, well-behaved good young men. And girls did enroll for several years at Deerfield under Boyden, but he did not think that co-education was effective at the Academy. Stepping down in 1968, Boyden died in 1972. His life was all about Deerfield and its students.
While Boyden’s world – and school – may seem distant, the messages found in McPhee’s book remain relevant. They have been instrumental in Deerfield’s growth, which serves as evidence of the power of our collective imagination and expectations of what makes for an outstanding education.
Outcomes, of course, are essential. There is no “A” just for effort. We expect to see students, work hard, learn, grow and find success. But more than that, we value traditions, consistency, and a legacy of commitment over time. That is especially true for the school’s employees. We have expectations that those that work in educational settings do more than teach. We hope for mission-driven educators, people who chose to dedicate their lives in service of others. Vocalized or not, there is a desire for moral leaders. Boyden embodied that idea.
If you have a moment, consider reading The Headmaster. It is provocative and inspirational, the story of how one person can truly make a difference.
David Potash