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Mike McCabe, Berkshire's favorite Latin teacher, recently took the time to sit down in his classroom to talk about teaching, football, and boarding school. But it didn't take long to discover that this would, in fact, be a conversation about connection. About family.
McCabe grew up at the Taft School, the son of math teachers and younger brother to two sisters. His parents created a life for their family that McCabe hopes to emulate in his own way. After college, his father chose to teach, instead of playing in the NFL. That decision didn't get a lot of support from his family, and Mike grew up understanding that love and family were priorities.
So, when he became a student at Taft, he was ready—he took Latin from two iconic teachers, who really brought the language alive and taught him accountability, and that even learning difficult things could be made enjoyable. He also played football and ran track for his dad, who taught him about pushing through fatigue and doubts in order to achieve his goals. For McCabe, high school brought together family, work and play in such a profound way that its effects haven't ever left him.
Now, teaching all levels of Latin and coaching with the football team, McCabe tries to imbue the classroom and the playing field with that same understanding. He truly believes in the ways in which learning can be fun, and the ways that teams are really just another form of family. When asked about Berkshire's football team, he immediately talks about the players. "There's no one guy on the team who makes it work; the kids don't care who gets the credit, and that comes directly from the coaches. There's a lot of humility there, and it leads to that kind of success." He goes on to praise Mr. [Dempsey] Quinn's role in creating that atmosphere and mentions Quinn's father, Jack, who McCabe calls, "compassionate and loving. It's easy to understand Dempsey, once you meet his dad."
Regardless of the topic, McCabe brings the conversation back to family, to the meaningful and lasting connections we make with other people. This is essentially how he has always made decisions and planned for his life.
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After Taft, McCabe went to college at Holy Cross, where he continued to study Latin and Classics and to play football, eventually thinking seriously about football as a career. Soon after graduating, he received weekly phone calls from the front office of the Green Bay Packers. Those phone calls created a bond around books and family, and when McCabe had a choice between teams to play for, he went where that bond existed. Those connections mattered to him then, just as they do now.
In the end, though, in a mirror of his father's experience many years ago, McCabe chose teaching over football. He began his career at Berkshire and hasn't looked back. He loves teaching what people refer to as a dead language, a language, with Greek, that was really the foundation for the modern education system. It's old school and traditional, but it's possible to make it entertaining, and he especially enjoys those moments when he can bring it to life for his students.
McCabe says that Latin attracts specific kids, the ones who like language, who like to play with it and who see it as a puzzle, and he feels really lucky to get the kids he does. Watching them connect what they're learning in Latin with what they need to know in their own language never gets old.
He really loves the students, loves watching them learn and is most excited when he sees them realizing that learning can be fun. When asked if he has a teaching philosophy, McCabe has to think for a minute. "We all probably mimic, as teachers, the best teaching we saw as students," he says. He truly believes that the classroom should be a place that kids want to be, and not because it's easy but because it's engaging. He wants to show them that they can laugh and learn all at the same time, that learning should be an absorbing, fun experience.
Asked about his goals, McCabe responds, "Kids sometimes say, wow, we've really learned a lot in here. My goal is to have the kids reach those moments where they're proud of what they've learned. For every kid to have those moments throughout the year."
In paying attention to his family, to some great teachers, and to the lessons learned playing sports at a pretty high level, McCabe has himself learned a lot about the compassion and levity necessary for working at a boarding school. "Our family is about love and fun and trust," he begins. "That's exactly what I've found at Berkshire. We take our work seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. Every school says that they do this work in a unique way, but in this place, that's actually true. Everything, from the top down, is all about the kids. I love my advisees, I love the kids I teach, the kids I coach. In the end," he says quietly, "this is really just a place of love."
And with that, the bell rings. Time for Latin II.