I imagine that people ask you from time to time, “Where do you go to school?” I understand the question, but I’m afraid it is a little misleading. It is posed in the same way that we might ask: “Where do you get your dry cleaning done?” or “Where do buy your shoes?”
Instead, I think we should ask, “What school are you a member of?” That’s a bit closer to the truth. A real school is not just a place you go; it is a community to which you belong.
The distinction matters, because membership and belonging come with great privilege, as well as great responsibility. If a stranger walked into the school today, he wouldn’t be entitled to teach your art class, eat lunch with you in Great Hall, or attend Parent Fellowship meetings, even if he handed over a bunch of money. Those are distinct privileges, reserved for members of our school.
But in the same way, as members of this community, you and I also have obligations to every other member of the school as well. And here’s the tough part: Even though it is impossible for any one person—even the person in charge—to make a community good on his own, it is incredibly easy for just one of us to spoil it for the rest.
Think about it: One student can ruin class by being disruptive, but it takes every child doing what he ought in order for real learning to take place. It is a bit like being at a dinner party with a single, ill-tempered guest who makes the whole meal unpleasant for everyone.
This is why Ecclesiastes tells us that “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.”1 And why Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, asks, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”2 This, according to John Calvin, “intimates that a whole multitude is infected by the contagion of a single individual.”
Now that’s a lot of responsibility on each and every one of us. But it is the privilege—as well as the solemn obligation—of belonging to a good school.
So, the next time someone asks you where you go to school, maybe try answering: “I’m a member of Columbus Classical Academy.” And then, do your very best to live up to it.