Cornell Mission Statement

Cornell, as we found out in class the other day, has a nearly 200 word mission statement which goes into detail of the school’s goals for our education and lives on the hilltop. While no school that I’ve looked at has what I would call a realistic mission statement, Cornell’s seems particularly out there. However, I see where they are coming from. It’s a MISSION statement. It’s not saying these are the things every student will/must have before leaving the school to go off and become the successful, independent person spoken of in the statement, it’s a goal. Like E.D. Hirsch’s cultural literacy list, I doubt anyone can actually attain all these wonderful characteristics, but since when is aiming high frowned on? Perhaps it idealizes the college experience and even the college itself, I will admit that I too rolled my eyes at all the rigmarole the first time through the mission statement, but looking at it in further detail, everything on that list is something I would like to attain. Maybe students (and faculty) should treat it like one of those chain emails that instruct you to print out this list of reasons why you matter and hang it on your fridge. It’s been proven that seeing your goals written down on a regular basis helps to keep them in mind, so why not keep our education and its worth in mind?