Principia College - Sheaf Yearbook (Elsah, IL)

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The primary purpose of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES is to make certain that the Pur- pose and Policies of The Principia are car- ried out with understanding and effective- ness. The Trustees have accepted as their pre- amble a portion of Mrs. Morgan's message to them in 1938: 'The Board of Trustees is responsible for the establishment of the ftuidamental policies which make Principia what it is. It is responsible for the guidance and instruction of the administration of The Principia in terms of these policies under whatever procedures it may see fit to es- tablish. The Principia must always be a credit and help to the Cause of Christian Science. It must remain true to the ideals upon which it has been founded. This insti- tution will achieve only such distinction in service to the Cause of Christian Science as is represented by the level of thought and conduct of this Board. We are the leaders of this work. We must give it the quality of leadership it requires.' Throughout Principia's existence, there has been unquestionable proof that the institu- tion's services bear fruit in proportion as the vision of Principia's founder, Mary Kimball Morgan, is cherished and heeded.

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Spiritual Growth - Key We are a community committed to spiritual growth. We are all here because we want to grow in ideals and the performance of those ideals. It is this concept of high standards of thought and conduct upon which Principia is built and which is our greatest challenge to uphold. . . Principia's commitment to character education is far more than a hopeful concept. We like to feel that we are so com- mitted to character education that it is part of every activity that is undertaken. As Mrs. Morgan says in her writings, 'The subject matter of the classroom is only the vehicle for the larger purpose. . .' implying that this purpose is character de- velopment or the spiritual progress of the individual. . . Of primary import is that Principia is a community of Chris- tian Scientists--faculty as well as students. As far as straight academic subject matter is concerned, undoubtedly equally as good instruction is being offered at other institutions. However, as long as an instructor is committed to the concept of char- acter development, the spiritual growth of the students is fun- damental to his teaching. This actually makes for better in- tellectual growth as well. I know of no place else which is working from that Christianly Scientific basis. . . Instructors do not teach Christian Science in the classrooms, however, maintaining the whole man concept 'of education manifests itself in better quality education. For example, Pol- icy Statement lll, an integral part of this concept, states: 'The Principia refuses to accept as final any belief of limitation which would grant greater capacity to one individual than to another.' This scientific expectation of good is liberating for the student. . . It is essential to have a consciously designed program to de- velop the whole man. The key element in this concept, we feel, is Spiritual. If the individual is developing spiritually, all other elements will fit into place very easily. With this spirit- ually based development, there will be no imbalance. Each aspect of the whole man concept receives formal recognition and support within the administration. . . There are certain areas in which Principians can direct their attention: --We need to work toward an on-going interaction between faculty and students, one in which each individual feels the loving support of the community and which results in a con- scious uplifting of our standards. --We must ever maintain the perspective that Principia's primary function is to serve the cause of Christian Science. --We each must be sure that we are, as individuals, devoted to Principle, committed to the community, and are striving to make a viable contribution to that community. If we apply ourselves in these areas, we will see a lifting of thought here that we would not otherwise experience.

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Education - A Study in Excellence By what criteria does one say something is ex- cellent? lt's amazing to me how many people seem to think that merely the time or effort doing or studying something should be the stan- dard. Others think that progress alone should be the basis for evaluation, regardless of the qual- ity of the performance or product achieved. But isn't it really both the achievement of a goal GENERALLY ACKNOWLEDGED as worthy, and striving to grow as much as possible in the process? That seems to me to be the quest for EXCELLENCE. Standards ought to be highly demanding of extra effort beyond that of which the individual thinks he is capable. That ought to be a part of our standard--pressing beyond ourselves. And this effort will certainly result in readily discernable progress. Yet, it can be only by the highest standard that we measure our performance-- collectively as well as individually. lt becomes the responsibility of the adminis- tration, the faculty, AND the students to insure that the community is striving toward this high goal daily. Within the realm of academics, it is the administration's duty to try to establish the framework which most effectively meets the needs of the faculty and students. This is the objective of developing sound processes for con- tinual evaluation of the academic departments with a view toward strengthening them in every way possible. Within this framework, it is the instructors' responsibility to enter the class room with that expectancy which draws forth the maximum amount of growth from each student in his sub- ject. Hopefully, the instructor is comfortable about doing whatever is necessary to bring that about. He must demand at least a sense of ex- cellence on the student's part, and hopefully mo tivate a genuine striving to attain. Conversely, it is the student's duty not to ac- cept less than an enthusiastic job of drawing forth of excellence from himself by the profes- sor. The student should be eager for the in- structor to challenge him, and make this clear to the instructor. Sometimes reading the foot- notes or chapter-end references can produce enough knowledge to share with a whole class by asking questions of the instructor based in that reading. Asking the instructor for a supplemen- tal reading assignment also serves to challenge the level of expectation of excellence. The stu- dent that does not demand of himself as pene- trating an analysis of the subject at hand as is possible is missing the mark of excellence in his work. If he is going to make any kind of contribution to his own growth for certainly to others'5 he must develop that ability to strive for excellenceg otherwise, that contribution will not be there. That's the sort of thing we crucially need to be doing in educationg helping people Cstudents AND facultyj take that long step forward--that action step beyond resolve. Nobody likes to lie back in the shallows of non- performance or non- growth. A little encouragement consistently given to press on would go a long way.