God’s Greatest Resource

H.G. Wells once said, “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” The premium for an excellent education rises as the foundations of our culture continue to erode. While Rome burned Nero famously fiddled, but while our civilization slips toward suicide, we are determined to do something. We intend to educate our children to be critically minded grown-ups who are wise in thought and deed, well-mannered, ready to filter and critique what they encounter in the world, and disposed to love what is true, good and beautiful. And God has positioned Regents Academy strategically at this time and in this place to accomplish this task both for our children and for future generations.

God has given us many resources – Bibles, facilities, curriculum, technology, funding. But the greatest resource God has given to us is people. Classical Christian education is predicated on a vision of wise teachers investing themselves in students to cultivate a love of learning. David Hicks, author of Norms and Nobility, wrote that “The most important thing, therefore, about a classical, Christian education is that faculty members exhibit in themselves the virtues and values that we want to see in our students.  Thus, in the classroom the teacher is the primary text.” God has blessed Regents Academy with outstanding teachers who love both their subjects and their students, who come alongside parents to aid them in the discipleship of their children.

As headmaster one of my highest priorities in the coming year is to invest in our faculty and develop them as Christian men and women and as classical Christian teachers. This is why we will have a new Friday schedule. We will release about an hour early every Friday so that our teachers can have time for needed meetings, training, and development. Also, we have built into our yearly schedule three half days for teacher development. Families can enjoy these early Friday releases and half days, and we can all know that the teachers we love and appreciate so much will have additional time to grow and improve, even beyond the excellence they bring to the classroom each day.

One final thought: I would encourage you to find ways to lift up and bless your children’s teachers. They are gifted, passionate men and women who devote themselves to a task that is worth far more than we are able to pay them.