WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The WRFH Interview: Mike Roberts of Hillsdale Academy

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

Michael Roberts, Headmaster at Hillsdale Academy, joins WRFH to discuss the state of classical education at Hillsdale Academy, how students benefit from classical education, and the Hillsdale Academy Open House on February 2, 2025.

This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne. And with me today is Mr. Mike Roberts, headmaster of Hillsdale Academy. Welcome, Mr. Roberts. Thank you for having me today. Our pleasure. So to start us off, what is classical education? It's a great question. It's defined in many ways. I find it best to define classical education with the end in mind. And so when we think about this at its end, the purpose of classical education is to cultivate students in lives of virtue and wisdom. So as we unpack that a little bit, we think about what they study. We think about how they learn, but most important, it's what they do with this education. It's who they become. And so oftentimes, too, we think of this as not just a transaction. It's not just a degree. It's not just to go to.

to one other thing. But rather, classical education is a transformational education. So at Hillsdale Academy, we think of this as a traditional education. We think of this as the tried and true best practices. Classical education, you know, resonates with so many people because it's a common sense approach. It's a human approach. And so, in And when I say that, when we think about classical being a human approach, right, it's not just an education that thinks about career or to produce workers or to be cogs in a machine, but it's a it's a fully human education, right, that allows us as human beings to, to flourish.

And so in classical education, you know, at Hillsdale Academy, the K-12 years, right, are so transformational. And so this classical ed approach is what we do. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne and I'm talking with Mr. Mike Roberts, headmaster of Hillsdale Academy. Could you elaborate a little bit more on that human approach and how that compares to, say, a more transactional education? Like, what are the parts of a classical education that really fostered that? Sure. So sometimes if we just focus, on the skill, right, of education, you know, we're going to lose something. Now, I want to be careful there because if you walked into our lower school classrooms, you're going to see the

teaching of many great skills and many great habits. But it doesn't, it doesn't stop, stop there. As we continue on from, you know, the skills and building those foundations of learning, you know, we continue to build on those things. We continue to build on those things. We continue to be thinkers. We continue to have a sense of wonder, asking great questions about why things are the way they are. And so you move on to knowledge, right? And so knowledge is important. And in classical education, you know, we are the trustees of what has come before us and to pass along the historical teachings, the great literature, the great ideas, the greatest minds, people that have come before us that have contributed to this great conversation of, you know, what it's, you know, what

it means to be human and to understand things. You know, so we pass that on. But again, it's not just skill and it's not just knowledge. So this other idea that it's for us to live and to flourish and not just to work and not just for career. So here we're talking about the formation of our character. Here we're talking about to help us address and think about life's greatest questions, to help us be a great citizen on a, you know, a more local level even than that, to be a great father, to be a great mother. So these are these human experiences and this education is a full education that takes us into all these different arenas versus just being a skill-based, content-based, career-based focus.

And so ultimately, it allows us to not just make a living, but to live well. and it's not something that just happens right after K-12. Like what we're doing is we're planting seeds and we're preparing students for a life of virtue and wisdom. You don't end with it when you cross our graduation stage. We've developed it. We've cultivated it. We've helped it. But it isn't done, right?

The next phase of life is important too. So, yeah, that human piece, right? So we, you know, how we communicate, right? speak, think, relate. All that is so important and that relationship between the teacher and the student.

And to do this together, to ask questions together, and to look at things together, and to wonder together, that's a human experience. So hopefully those are some good examples. Yeah, absolutely. And once again, this is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne, and I'm talking with

Mr. Mike Roberts, headmaster of Hillsdale Academy. And as we're talking about the life of virtue and living well, I wanted to ask what the state of classical ed education is at Hillsdale Academy. Great. Well, things right now as they think about it, they're healthy and happy. We are so fortunate. We are in our 35th year of operation at Hillsdale Academy. And due to just a great group of families that have chosen this education. that are partnering with our school and just a wonderful group of K-12 students and then led by our staff, our teachers that know their subjects, they love learning, and then they love to deliver it to students, right? It sounds so simple, but that's what makes a great teacher. And so things at the school are great. Right now, we're enjoying an all-time high of enrollment.

We have about 320 students. we are experiencing growth and we're trying to grow carefully and thoughtfully. But the demand for classical education at Hillsdale Academy has never been higher. And we're seeing this, by the way, not just in Hillsdale, but in many other classical schools that we work with throughout the country. And I think that that's just an exciting thing. So right now we are benefited from a new wing that was put on this school. school, a new addition that allows us to serve more students in the Hillsdale region, allows us to expand a little bit of what we offer and what we do and just continue to build on the great

things that have come before us at the school. So good things are happening at Hillsdale Academy. And just, you know, Hillsdale Academy is a private Christian classical school. And we are on the campus of Hillsdale College. We are owned and operated by Hillsdale College. Hillsdale College cares a great deal about K-12 education. It's such an important topic for our country, not just a topic. It's so important for our country and for things to go well. And so Hillsdale Academy was founded in 1990 and first and foremost to help serve local students. And so we have students that drive up to about a 50-mile radius.

So our students come from the Hillsdale greater community. but they come from all over our region. And so, you know, we take that seriously that parents make this investment. They choose our school and they come to us. But we're also helping Hillsdale College students learn and grow so they can go serve in schools. And then we help other schools. And so, you know, being part of the college, having the collaboration with the Hillsdale College education department and the K-12 office. We work super close with the K-12 office as we work on the best

curriculum and pedagogy. And this is the way to run a school. And so we have tremendous help. And what a blessing to be part of Hillsdale College. And how does Hillsdale Academy's Christian nature fit into all this? That Christian classical piece, too, you know, to be able to come together weekly for chapel, to be able to pray, to be able to talk about virtue and how that helps us grow in our faith in serving God. You know, that goes back to that discussion we were talking about on the human piece, right, and how we learn about God, how we understand things, how we understand nature, and then how we grow in our service, right? These are just key things. So really excited about the things that are happening at the school.

I could go on and on about some specifics and some highlights, but things are good. Well, that's fantastic to hear. And once again, this is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7. I'm Aaron Osborne, speaking with Mr. Mike Roberts of Hillsdale Academy. And a question for you, first off, happy anniversary to Hillsdale Academy. 35 years is quite the milestone. You mentioned innovation with the curriculum and that sort of thing. How has Hillsdale Academy changed over the years?

Well, carefully and thoughtfully, I mean, one of the things with classical educations, one thing we're not doing is reinventing the wheel every year or chasing the latest fad or trying to come up with some new way. Now, we're not, but we want to get better. And we're all getting better. I honestly think Hillsdale Academy has gotten stronger every single year. And so you never want to throw out the mission. And you want to keep the main thing, the main thing. But you want to keep doing it better. and better. So some of the areas that we've been able to improve, we've been able to add some

courses to our school. And so, for instance, we have moved the study of Latin down to third grade. And because we study Latin earlier, right, we're able to reach a level of Latin and understanding a little bit earlier. And that's opening up some other opportunities in the upper grades. So for instance, we've just added a intro to moral and political philosophy course. Now, we weren't ignoring that topic. That topic was being taught through our literature, through our history. Some of the same books were taught in those classes and the same types of questions and ideas, but we've been able to carve out space for this to happen deliberately, right? We've been able to add a history course to our upper school sequence. We study ancient history through modern history in high

school. That's a lot to cover. And so we've been able to kind of parse that out a little bit better, create more time for the study of history, extremely essential to what we're doing, things like that. So no major tweaks, right, but we've made some different moves. I'll give you in one more example, like in the, you know, we are committed, from day one, we're committed to teaching phonics, right? When you learn literacy, right, the phonics-based approach. is the way to go in classical schools across the country, adopt a phonics program. Now, what type of phonics program is the question, right? So we did shift what program we're using, and we're using a wonderful program called Literacy Essentials. That's our full phonics program, and we made a shift a few years ago

fully in that. This is what we're recommending to schools across the country that we work with. And so we sometimes will make an improvement in a move in that way. But those are some of the exciting things that are happening and some of the different changes. Absolutely. And this is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7. I'm Aaron Osborne speaking with Mr. Mike Roberts of Hillsdale Academy. You mentioned the mission of Hillsdale Academy being at the forefront of everything you do. I was wondering if you can elaborate a little bit more specifically on what is that mission.

Yeah. Well, let me just say it to you. So because we worked hard on kind of having a very pointed mission. and sticking to it. And so the mission of Hillsdale Academy is to train the minds and develop the hearts of young men and women through a content-rich Christian classical education in the liberal arts and sciences with instruction in an intellectual, moral, and civic virtue. So there's a lot to unpack there. But you heard at the end, right, our motto of the school, Virtu Seseapeyenta, which means virtue and wisdom, It's on every single patch that the kids wear on their uniform.

It's on the print of the building. But again, on that mission, that idea of developing these virtues is key. How do we do it? Well, we do it through a content-rich curriculum, right? A tried and true curriculum. And what do we do with it, right? We train the minds and develop the hearts, right? We don't just take tests.

We don't just move on to different grades. we don't just go to college and get into college. Those are super important things, by the way. And it turns out that if you have a content-rich education that focuses on virtue and wisdom, you end up with good test scores, high test scores, great opportunities to go to college and great opportunities to pour into some sort of career. Those are byproducts. Those are important things, but they're just not the end all of what we're trying to do. So that mission is, central. And so what we try to do at the school, and I believe in this, you know, the college is a leader in this country about staying true to its mission since 1844. For Hillsdale Academy, we're not as

old, 1990, but we're part of this. But every decision that we make has to go back to the mission. So as we talk about hiring teachers, when we talk about partnering with parents, when we talk about disciplining students. When we talk about adding programs or ending programs, everything that we do is guided by these principles that if it interferes with the mission, then I have to protect and defend it along with our staff. And so we take that seriously. Absolutely. And once again, we're discussing Hillsdale Academy. This is here on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne with the headmaster, Mr. Mike Roberts. And a bit more. of a personal question of you. What is it that you were most proud about Hillsdale Academy for?

We may have already touched on it. Yeah. No, it's it, you know, so I am most proud of, of the people that have passed through this place. One of my favorite things is to connect with alumni and to see how they're doing today and what they've become and who they are and that they want to stay connected to us as a piece that was important in their journey, right? Parents are the primary educators, first and foremost, of their children, you know, but we have an important role to come alongside parents, and we have the kids in our building, right, Monday through Friday, important part of the day, 180 days, a school year. And so our job is serious and it's important. So I am so proud of the families, the staff, the people.

Like we can talk all day about results and we can talk about some great high things and the things that we get to study. But who these people are and what they become and how they go about, how the students go about learning, how the teachers go about teaching, how the parents go about parenting.

I am so proud of the people that have served at Hillsdale Academy or gone past through our places, students. Remarkable people. That's absolutely wonderful to hear. Once again, we're discussing Hillsdale Academy and Classical Education here on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne, speaking with headmaster, Mr. Mike Roberts. And another question is kind of a bundled question. We've already kind of talked about how students benefit from classical education. But how do you define success when you see alumni that you knew went there, 20, 30 years ago, what does that look like? We hear all about metrics, but what goes beyond that? How is that human? That's a really great question. I want to just kind of back that up for a second because, you know, we're coming off of a week where we've recently learned about some test

scores, right? So the classical learning test is a big test that many students across the country are taking in addition to the ACT or SCT and along with it. And it turns out our 10th graders were ranked first in the country on the C. ELT-10, right? So we're really, yeah, we're really excited about it. But it starts to ask you a question, is that our definition of success, right? You know, is it GPA? Is it what college you go to? You know, what is it that will, at the end of the day, will we say we did a good job, right, as a staff and as a school? What is it? And so, first, GPAs, test scores, college acceptance, a test that someone turns in, a paper that they,

write, a lab that they produce, you know, those things are products that we're looking for to be excellent and to see, you know, our students flourish, right? Those are indicators. Those are tools. Those are things that we care about and that we pay attention to. But to your point, it's not the end all be all of what we're trying to do at the end of the day. We could be the top scoring school in the country and not be a very good school. Because if we are, how, I, I How are we cultivating the person? What are they doing with the education? There's a lot of smart criminals out there that haven't done much with the knowledge that they've learned or they use that knowledge in the wrong way, right?

And so sometimes we really have to be patient and we have to have the long view in mind. And so when I look at these alumni, when I say living happy lives, I mean I mean it, but I don't mean it in such a way that it's just a feel-good happiness. although that's, I think, a byproduct of happiness. I'm talking a full, happy life. When I see them in great marriages, when I see them as parents, when I see them become leaders in their fields, whatever it is, contributors, participants, servants, like we watch. Those are the things that I'm interested in.

You know, and I didn't say job title or salary, right? I'm sure that that's going well for so many of our. alums. But when we think about that success at the end of the day, you know, have we truly given our students the tools to live a life of learning and service and flourishing and joy? And I hope so. And I'll also say there's no way we could ever take all the credit if that happens because, again, of the parents. This is Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne, speaking to headmaster of Hillsdale Academy, Mike Roberts. How does all of this relate to college?

of my favorite things from alumni is when they come back and tell me, not just they got into this college, but how are they doing once they're there? And for those that don't go to college, right, we don't care if you go to college or not. We care that you're going to something with a purpose, joining the military, going straight into a trade, going into the workforce, you know, figuring it out, but taking your education and using it. That is in a way that just helps them live, helps them serve, helps them honor our Lord and Savior, and live these lives of virtue and wisdom. So it's hard to see, but you do it through relationship. And honestly, I just saw 50 plus, I may have actually seen near 100 alumni over the holiday

breaks between weddings, alumni events, people just passing through. And it was so encouraging just to talk with them and hear about what they're doing. Absolutely. And once again, congratulations to Hillsdale. Academy for that wonderful milestone, both personal and in some of those metrics. Once again, we're talking about Hillsdale Academy on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Aaron Osborne, speaking with headmaster, Mr. Mike Roberts. And before we go today, I hear you guys have an open house. Can you tell me about that a little bit? Yeah. So oftentimes we're just asked, how do I learn more about

classical education in general, or how do I learn more about Hillsdale Academy? And so there's different ways to do this. One thing that we are trying to do is open our doors. And while we have, we actually, we allow tours anytime. So you could call the school and come visit anytime you want. But specifically, we're trying to make it easy. On Sunday, February 2nd, we have an open house to anyone that's interested to just walk the halls of our school, go on a tour and meet our staff and just learn about our school and what we're doing. Now, that ties nicely because we are in admission season. And, you know, our application deadline for priority applications is February 15th. So this is sort of a last chance to come in before that, see the school and make a decision if you want to start a conversation

and apply. So it's a drop-in opportunity come anytime between 1 and 2.30. Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. If you go to our website, academy.hillsdale.edu, you can find out a lot about our school, but you can also see information about that. open house. All right. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Our guest has been Mr. Mike Roberts, headmaster of Hillsdale Academy, and I'm Aaron Osborne on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM.