tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2569736351659029864.post7778833966721029746..comments2009-02-28T23:17:15.875-05:00Comments on we all, with unveiled faces: Reflecting on a missionBrian Dowlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205964473894783826noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2569736351659029864.post-23952714455162026542009-02-09T22:41:00.000-05:002009-02-09T22:41:00.000-05:00I'm glad that you are critically evaluating the mi...I'm glad that you are critically evaluating the mission statement of Aquinas. Like you said, it uses value language. Values are something that should never change. The fact that you are questioning these values either says that you are simply not of the same thought process as Aquinas, or maybe a legitimate change is in order. This would point to the fact that maybe they aren't really values. <BR/><BR/>The piece of your post that strikes me as most interesting is the challenge of what higher education really is. If I could go to college, an institution of higher education, and do all of the things that John Henry Newman says; open my mind, correct it, refine it, enable it to know and digest, master, rule, and so on, I would be content. Merely attending an institution of higher education to further my knowledge of the world would fulfill me more than going to college to receive a medium through which I can make money.<BR/><BR/>While currently in my junior year of college here at Aquinas, I find that I desire to learn above all else. If I could just continue going to school here and take all of the classes I wanted to take, I would be very much at peace with that. And I feel that the rest of the Aquinas community does not feel that way. I don't just want to stay in school because the economy frightens me, which it does; I want to gain as much wisdom and experience from this place as possible. I am striving for higher education. <BR/><BR/>Aquinas College's mission statement might use the phrases "liberal arts education", "Catholic Dominican tradition" and "career preparation", but I think that between Fulton St. and Robinson Rd. there are many people with an almost pure desire to education the students here at a higher level, regardless of what the mission statement says.<BR/><BR/>When I will talk about my time I spent at Aquinas in the future, it will be towards those people that I look back upon fondly as an embodiment of what Aquinas stands for. <BR/><BR/>Paul WizniukAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com