Vision with Integrity: What We Need in Education

I have known leaders with vision, but without integrity.

This is Gary Hart: a man of genius who ends up alone.

I have known leaders with integrity, but no vision.

This is George HW Bush: a man of rectitude who did not know what to do with power.

I have known a few leaders with integrity and vision: Phillip E. Johnson has both, my Dad has both, Clyde Cook and Barry Corey of Biola University are the total package.

As I turn towards the last quarter of my career, I am disinterested in empire building or those who build empires. The Kingdom does not need in fighting or the disciples quarreling who is to be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “The two most powerful words for the future of Christian education are: align and collaborate. That’s precisely what is taking place here,” said President Gregory Alan Thornbury.

That is the truth.

As a result, I have dedicated the rest of my career, God helping me, to  following the example of our Lord in chasing the money changers out of the Temple of higher education and helping all of God’s children get a classical, Christian, accredited education.

As a result, I have left “normal educational” jobs, visionless, full of grifters,  to become President of The Saint Constantine School which intends to combine kindergarten through college education.

Why?

For hundreds of years, no Reynolds (we came here in the 1630’s or so) had more than an eighth grade education. We would have liked one, but it was not necessary for us to be one of the backbone families of the Republic. We were at Yorktown and left our mule in the field to fight for Mr. Lincoln, Union, and Liberty. Relatives were at Normandy and Iraq.

When things changed, and credentials started mattering, my father went to high school, college, graduate school and left the next generation with nothing to do! He did so debt free, because a working dad and a working mom could get my dad through school: debt free. That is the way it should be and that is the way it must be. We united high school with primary school in the fifties and my dad benefited.

Now, due to changes in technology and a multitude of professors, we can unite undergraduate education with high school. We will stop duplicating effort and save money.

There are few leaders in Christian higher education with the vision and the integrity to seize the new way of doing education. Greg Thornbury is one such leader. I am delighted to announce that I have accepted the post of Senior Fellow in the Humanities at The King’s College in New York City. There we can combine the values of the most important city in the world with the great American city of the twenty-first century, Houston.

As President of The Saint Constantine School we will bring wisdom, virtue, and joy to higher education. By working with The King’s College I will be partnering with a leader who has integrity.

Integrity says: I will act for people and not for programs.

Integrity says: I will do God’s will before my own will: Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done.

Integrity says: The two most powerful words for the future of Christian education are: align and collaborate. I cannot wait for tomorrow.