If you’re familiar with Gustavus, you’ve probably seen or heard the slogan “Make Your Life Count.” What presumably enables Gustavus to make one’s life count is its liberal arts curriculum. Gustavus prides itself on small class sizes, student-teacher relationships, and personal growth. A liberal arts education introduces students to a wide variety of classes that provide a way to make sense of the world, while also allowing for an area of expertise.
The thing we need to think about is why this wholesome education is beneficial.
The slogan “Make Your Life Count” stems from the fact that Gustavus teaches us how to live, not just how to make a living. Gustavus’ intuitional mission statement which says:
“The purpose of a Gustavus education is to help its students attain their full potential as persons, to develop in them a capacity and passion for lifelong learning, and to prepare them for fulfilling lives of leadership and service in society.”
Notice how there is nothing in that statement about jobs or about making money. In fact, the College’s mission statement seems more concerned with the opposite, with things such as personal growth. If the point of a Gustavus education is to foster the development of a fulfilling life, then as students we should hold the school accountable for accomplishing that.
One of the features on gustavus.edu is a slideshow with the words, “Where Gustavus Can Take You.” It shows students abroad and graduates who are working big-time jobs. If we are to abide by the College’s mission statement we should realize it’s not about where Gustavus can take you, instead it’s about why Gustavus can take you there.
If Gustavus really does make one’s life count, maybe the college should advertise the reason why, rather than luring people in with the promise of good career.
The main problem I see is that we are too focused on careers or future employment, and not focused enough on the school’s mission as a liberal arts college.
There is no better example to illustrate this than the Center for Servant Leadership (CSL). The CSL technically has four main components: outreach, vocation, service, and career. Because there are so many components and services within the CSL, the overall purpose of the center has been blurred.
According to the CSL website the purpose of the center is as follows:
“At Gustavus we believe everyone is called on a life journey to lead and serve their community. The CSL helps Gusties develop tools and discover their gifts to be engaged members of the Gustavus community and to prepare students for their next chapters after college.”
Regardless of this stated purpose, most students consider the CSL as the “career center.” The career component of the CSL is currently the most predominant function. Students go to the CSL mainly for help with career-development, whether that be help picking a major, assistance with resumes, tips for job-interviewing, help with networking, or others things related to landing a job after graduation. We need to look to more than just careers and employment though if we want to carry out the CSL’s stated purpose.
One of the components of the CSL that has been recently shoved under the rug is vocation. As of this year vocation took a major hit with the loss of the faculty member who was in charge of it. As a result vocation has lost its voice within the CSL and most importantly within the College.
In fact, it wasn’t until 2011 that the CSL got its name and was expanded to provide more services. Before that it was called the Center for Vocational Reflection (CVR), and was more focused on upholding the College’s mission.
“The slogan ‘Make Your Life Count’ stems from the fact that Gustavus teaches us how to live, not just how to make a living.”
It’s great that we have a strong commitment to career-development, but it has to be in conjunction with vocational reflection. If a liberal arts education teaches us how to live, and career development teaches one how to make a living, Gustavus should be able to teach its students how to do both at the same time via vocational reflection.
The only two pieces that currently make up vocation at CSL are the Servant Leadership Program (SLP) and Mentoring Program, both of which are available for only a select number of students. Students are actually unaware the Mentoring Program has anything to do with the component of vocation in the first place. The vocation aspect of the CSL is supposed to assist students in asking “big questions” such as:
What are my passions and gifts? How do I make my life count? Why am I here?
“If Gustavus really does make one’s life count, maybe the college should advertise the reason why, rather than luring people in with the promise of good career.”
Currently there is no longer enough structure within vocation at CSL to get a majority of students to ask these types of questions.
There needs to be some type of new structure or service available to all students that brings back the voice of vocation. Why? Because the state of the school as a liberal arts institution depends on it.
With a new college president comes a new era of Gustavus. With the emergence of a new era comes the need to reinvigorate the purpose of a Gustavus education and to make clear the values in which we will prioritize.
If Gustavus is to continue making lives count, it’s time we reevaluate whether the school is accomplishing its mission. We cannot forget the importance of vocational reflection as part of a liberal arts education.
We ought to make a conscious effort to make sure Gustavus does not just talk the talk, but that it walks the walk. We can start by recognizing the need for vocational reflection to be not only a central function of the CSL, but an important element of a liberal arts education.
-Colin Reike