Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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President Oswald Discusses Education at Penn State Of course all of us from time to time are influenced by what others want us to do or expect us to do. Sometimes we may even feel that someone makes us do something- our parents, a teacher, someone bigger than we are or more powerful. But in reality and ultimately we make the decision of what we will do, where we will be, what we will be. Job training is not our mission: education is-the expan- sion of learning skills, methods of seeking and acquiring knowledge, sustaining and developing curiosity and inquiry, objectivity and honesty in the pursuit of truth, nurture of qualities of integrity and morality-these are the under- girding missions of a college education. Education is not something we do to you or for you; it is an experience, an opportunity, a process you seek out. It is possible to short change yourself here, but the University won't limit you; you may cheat yourself. Outstanding fac- ulty are here, the classes are here, the library', the concerts, exhibits, athletic events-all here to enhance your growth and learning but you are the one who decides how much you will make of it. You have the freedom to make as much or as little of this opportunity as you wish. There are new distractions here, and new responsibilities for you in the use of your time, your money, and your energies. Sometimes people regard the college years as the carefree years-but they are not. These are the crucial years in which you de- vote your attention to the training and formulation of your life. If that sounds too solemn it is none the less true. Within 20 to 30 years from now your generation will be in charge, you will be the parents of the family you intend to have, in- deed some of you will already have brought your sons and daughters to begin college at Penn State. Two or three dec- ades is not a very long time but there is much to be done and we need your help, your intelligence, your diligence for the problems of society. In the decades which lie ahead, when change itself prom- ises to be the common denominator, you may find that you will in practice be going to school all of your life, adapting every five or ten years to the new jobs in transportation, in environmental control, in human behavioral sciences. But you will also find that the traits you establish at Penn State of disciplined study, of integrity of inquiry, of well rooted standards of performance will be useful and un- changing no matter how life around you shifts and turns. John W. Oswald