List Detail
My Journey to Brookfield Academy
By Bruce Rottman, Director, Free Market Institute
Over 30 years ago, to help me with a job search, my wife Elaine was looking though a vertical file in a Pleasant Hill, CA library, and discovered a brochure for a school in Wisconsin called Brookfield Academy. From reading the brochure, she sensed that it would be a perfect fit for me. Here was a school that had the highest academic standards, a healthy respect for tradition, an unabashed esteem for freedom in general, and free markets in particular. She showed me the brochure.
My response: “I’ve got to see this school!”
Although we lived in Northern California, we had family in Minneapolis, Madison, and Michigan, and we often made the trip on I-94 back and forth. On one of those trips, we said, let’s take that Brookfield exit and find that school. We exited, and in the pre-smart phone world, wondered where it would be.
We saw Brookfield Road, and headed north.
And there it was.
We met Dr. Robin Mitchell, got a tour from Rob Rauh, and eventually I sent them my resume. Two years later, I bumped into this amazing man named Dr. Nyle Kardazkie at a conference in Aspen, Colorado. We connected well, and two more years later, after I’d taken a job in Washington state, Nyle retired, and the Academy gave me a call.
I fell in love with Brookfield Academy not only because of the amazing people and its stellar board, but most importantly its philosophy grounded in the dignity of the person, respect for truth, and a love of freedom. I taught history and economics in the Upper School from 1992 through 2009, before Elaine and I headed to Santa Barbara to help a young, small, like-minded independent school to get off the ground.
Our world, and our country, has changed considerably during that stretch of time.
We live in a world where excellent ideas are under assault. Last year, the Wall Street Journal’s Barton Swaim noted that “Political debates in Washington are bereft of good faith, the education system idealizes self-hatred and sexual confusion, and even corporate leaders—who until yesterday could be counted on to champion patriotism and hard work—eagerly recite the maxims of idiots.”
That is harsh, but it means that this world needs more schools like Brookfield Academy.
So as I reflected on my career and discovered that BA was opening a Free Market Center, I jumped at the opportunity to return after a 13-year absence. My goal as the Director of the Free Market Institute is to advance the knowledge of and love for markets among BA’s students, parents, and broader community, and this weekly blog will be one way in which I, along with Missions Director Linda Pryor, can engage our community.
Liberty is not only a precious gift that has to be nourished. It’s the principal founding ideal of the American experience with an exceptionally long history; it’s why we are prosperous. It acknowledges the inherent dignity of the individual. And yes, liberty must be defended with vigilance.
But is is also fun.
I hope to have some serious fun this year, and my goal is that this weekly blog series that Linda and I will write will communicate an exciting vision of freedom that is in the air at this amazing school on Brookfield Road, now entering its 60th year of delivering excellence.
