The Prescotian

In a speech given at the PGS Reunion Dinner held at Lymm, October 9th 1992 I made a comment on the School motto, as follows. "The PGS motto was Futuram Civitatem Inquirimus, usually rendered 'we seek a future State.' On checking it out with my friendly neighbourhood Classics Professor I find that a more accurate and useful translation might be 'we are searching for a future community,' the key issue being to do with citizenship as social obligation rather than place. It really could be rendered 'we are in the business of producing citizens.' It is a fine motto and it says a lot about the vision which saw the need to combine real technical competence with all round development and citizenship". The School motto intrigued me as a boy, and continued to intrigue me after the 1992 speech, and for this reason I decided to do a bit more thinking and a little more delving.

In a brief discussion of the motto which appeared in the 1944 volume celebrating the Quatercentenary of Prescot Grammar School, F.A.Bailey (p.73) identifies the source of the motto as being the will of the founder. He gives the wording as follows: 'I, Gilbert Lathum, Priest, calling to remembraunce the sentance of Saynte Paule (ad Hebraos), non habemus hic
civitatem manentem sed futuram inquirimus.' This is taken from the Vulgate Latin version of the New Testament and is to be found in Hebrews 13.14. It is translated in the Revised Standard Version as 'For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come.'

Modern scholarship suggests that Hebrews is not in fact the work of St Paul but rather 'Anon,'and that it was written at about AD 70. The social/political context was one in which Jerusalem had fallen (or was about to fall) to the Romans. The writer is drawing a parallel between this situation and that of Jesus who had himself suffered outside the gates of the city. The present reality required that they move out to seek a new home; the new Jerusalem.

The document was originally written in Greek, and the word 'Civitas' is a translation of the Greek 'Polis.' The closest modern expression which at all parallels the idea of the Greek city state is probably 'social community' with its stress on the social bonds which unite people in common membership, and to which would need to be added the emphasis on democratic institutions. It would miss the point to think in terms of the large centralised modern Nation State, or to stress location, as in map coordinates. For this reason the translation of 'Civitas' as 'State' is problematic.

The 'future that is to come' can be identified with the Millenium in this world, (in normal time and space) or in the next world (out of time and space). There is a continuing tension in the Christian tradition between 'heaven on earth,' and heaven as a 'place' to which the faithful in some sense 'go'. That this future 'Civitas' is indeed to come is a matter of doctrine and faith in the Christian tradition. There is an oscillation between the need for individual and collective action to bring it into being, and the inevitability of Divine Providence.

In its modern form this language combines the secular with the religious. The moral community is expressed in social action in the world, and the transformation of this world becomes a matter of duty. Indeed that transformation, and the will to social improvement, locates the faith of Protestant Christianity in this world; 'by their fruits ye shall know them.' The tension between the 'here and now' and the Eternal is maintained within a commitment to moral/political action to bring about a better society. The theology and the texts have become the metaphors within which that tension can be creatively managed.

The motto replaced the earlier 'Floriat Prescotia' when C.W.H. Richardson was the Headmaster of the School 1908-37). I assume this change occurred at the time of the adoption of the new coat of arms in 1933. In his introductory essay, prepared for the 400th anniversary volume of 1944 (p.5) Richardson used the School motto as his title and gave as the translation 'We Seek After A State Which Is To Come.' There is little doubt about the direction of Richardson's interpretation, and specifically the stress on active searching. The School's contribution to the life of the town of Prescot and indeed the Nation was uppermost in his mind. Good institution building made the world a better and more prosperous place, and education was seen as almost self-evidently a key part of that process.

This strongly secular and progressive orientation is also evident in the coat of arms. In his brief discussion for the 1944 anniversary volume (p.73) F.A.Bailey comments that the arms of the ancient Lancashire House of Lathom (with famous Eagle and Child crest) provide the basis for the School arms, with the addition of 'an open book symbolising Education. In the crest, the Eagle is preserved, but with a Torch, symbolising Progress, supported in its dexter claw.' In the School as I knew it in the 1940's to early 50's, the direction of the daily Assemblies, and the commitment to building 'Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land,' underlined the clear expectation that a new social order was in the process of coming
about under the auspices of good government, respectability, and the Established Church. This progressive vision of a better society under God and the Rule of Law was a central part of the ethos of the School.

The commitment to social justice and morally defensible aims is as important today as ever, and certainly no easier to strive for. Indeed we live in a more cynical and confusing time. A key part of education is to learn about citizenship in it fullest sense. The vision expressed in motto 'Futuram Civitatem Inquirimus' now needs to be a more global and pluralist one, perhaps less entrenched in assumptions about Pax Britannica and the Established Church. It is not so much the ultimate attainment, but the continued striving which expresses our commitment to the future and marks us as full citizens.

If schooling ever becomes solely about learning to maximise individual economic access and occupational success, then something of incalculable importance will have disappeared. The basic aim of the School should remain as expressed in the spirit of the motto. This involves the goal, or to use the truly dreadful contemporary jargon, the 'Mission' of developing full, free, and equal citizens, who combine high competence with a commitment to strive for a good society in which reason prevails, knowledge triumphs over ignorance, and moral commitment outweighs the narrow pursuit of self interest and ambition. This should be as true for the Prescot School as it was for the Prescot Grammar School.