One of the great advantages we have as a private school is the opportunity to operate by time-tested principles.  In some cases these principles have less opportunity to thrive in other educational settings.  Two highly related principles that I want to see undergird our program at PCA are “freedom” and “responsibility.”

When you look at our history as a nation, these two principles play a prominent role in our development.  The desire for freedom from tyranny helped motivate our founders.  The establishment of our system of government is based on a foundation of personal responsibility.  Democracy only works effectively when citizens understand the responsibilities that come with this form of governance. 

Freedom without responsibility is libertine.  A society that stresses freedom without understanding the balancing role of responsibility produces citizens who are solely motivated by wealth accumulation, sexual or physical appetites and self aggrandizement. 

Responsibility without freedom is authoritarian when it is evident in government or institutions.  In religion or philosophy it is deterministic or mechanistic.  Responsibility without freedom produces individuals who are limited in their ability to be self-reflective and incapable of seeing the competition of ideas in the public square.  They can be blindly nationalistic or legalistic.

Both principles and their relationship find their roots in Scripture.  Man’s capacity to recognize and operate by such principles is unique to man as a made-in-the-image-of-God creation.  The fall fundamentally altered what was a perfect melding of these two principles of freedom and responsibility.  This pre-fall view is evidenced in the responsibilities that Adam possessed before the fall (naming the animals, etc.) and the freedom he possessed in how he lived (with the important caveat of off limit trees!).  The result of the fall was a loss of freedom (often characterized in the Bible as slavery to sin).  Correspondingly, the restoration of man’s relationship with God, made possible through the work of Christ, leads to freedom.  Galatians 5:1 states, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” a passage that particularly is designed to contrast responsibility without freedom when it comes to religious legalism.  The restored relationship with God continues to be marked by this challenge of balancing freedom and responsibility as seen in Romans 14 in the decisions mature Christians make to limit their freedoms because of responsibility to spiritually weaker individuals.

Assisting students in establishing the appropriate balance between freedom and responsibility is an important role for PCA and comes not just in what we teach but in the very culture of the institution.  In reality, it is our understanding of this balance that undergirds our redemptive discipline model.  Our model for student development is designed to heighten both freedom and responsibility over the course of a student’s progression through the 13 years at PCA.  As we present instruction these themes are drawn out of the classics in literature and history.  As we prepare students for informed citizenship in our own nation, we want them to come to understand the importance of both principles and the difficulty of helping both flourish.

I am often challenged in my role as Head of School to establish this rule or that rule.  On the surface each is often good or would have potential to accomplish good.   They are certainly well intentioned.  My approach is the same in every case.  Take the proposal back to first principles.  What important, timeless truths inform our approach to the proposed rule?  I often find that the principles of freedom and responsibility are important in arriving at a decision as it relates to the proposed policy items. 

We seek to support the responsibility that parents have as parents for the rearing of their child/children.  We support the balancing of freedom and responsibility that enables the self-efficacious functioning of our faculty and staff.  We want our students to gain freedom as they demonstrate responsibility, recognizing that the two are in tension at many times.   We want our students to graduate ready and able to take their place in society as effective citizens, as individuals capable of independent and critical thought and able to discern competing perspectives.