A Worthy Mission for St. Francis College Prep...
A Worthy Mission for St. Francis College Prep . . .
Earlier this week we explained that the vision for St. Francis College Prep is, “A tradition of faith, learning and leadership for the benefit of mankind.”
This vision is like the North Star, always on the horizon. It keeps us focused, it keeps us from straying, and it keeps us motivated. It also begs the question, “How do we get there?”
That is where our mission comes into play. The mission sets forth the manner by which St. Francis will fulfill its vision. Without the mission the vision is just a dream, never a reality.
Dr. Stephen Covey explains a mission statement best, it “clarifies what your purpose is, then you use that as the criterion by which you make decisions.” Our mission allows us to make the right decisions for the school each day, or the “how” we will fulfill our vision.
Like our vision, our mission statement is very intentional and very complimentary, “Saint Francis College Prep inspires students to leadership through a 21st Century education that is founded upon the Catholic faith and tradition.”
Again, we want to “inspire” students to be tomorrow’s leaders. How do we do this? The answer comes in two parts:
First: We do this through a 21st Century Education. Simply put, St. Francis recognizes that the tools being used in education today, and the industry being fostered through that education need to be addressed. Modern technology offers constant access to information, social interaction, and the easy creation of shared digital content.
Students must develop strong character, critical thinking and interpersonal communication skills in order to be relevant in an increasingly changing, connected, and complex world. This will help our students be successful and it will allow them to be the leaders we envision.
Second: Far more importantly, we inspire students to leadership by fusing their education to their faith and its traditions. They learn that their meaning in life is connected to the Lord and His desire for us to love and serve one another, which is the most inspiring work of all.
Our vision and our mission are a direct affirmation of these words offered by St. Francis Xavier:
Would to God that these men who labor so much in gaining knowledge would give as much thought to the account they one day give to God of the use they have made of their learning and the talents entrusted to them . . .
There can be no mission more worthy than teaching students they will give an account.
世人都知英语好,唯有钱途忘不了;A B C D E F G,雅思、托福、GRE.教材辅导一本本,十年辛苦为谁忙?心脑不能并用,举一不能反三,意识形态、思维方式依然故我,词汇只知数数量而不知计质量,只知滥用记忆力,不知要自行分析判断,还得时常反省,自我总结。只知表面现象做足表面文章去应景,而根本不愿探求本质、发展和变化。再就是患得患失,拔苗助长一日用心,奢求十日之效;一月用功,便冀一年之绩。长此以往,如何到达彻底解脱之彼岸?We are trapped in the unsrovay learning mode which relies almost entirely on our faculties of memory alone, without independent thinking, without habitual classification of what we learned periodically. In fact, strategic thinking is such a rare commodity in this day and age that it demands a premium in the “market place”.Too often, we are so misconceived that we believed frequent exchanges of ideas with other fellow learners of English are so beneficial that they would make this trip or pilgrimage somehow faster and easier. While we may intuitively agree that the only way to learn English well is to closely mimic the process how native speakers learn and perfect their own language skills, few of us actually pursued that route to full fruition. At least in Mainland China, there is also a trend to place a disporportionate amount of emphasis on classic English literature and with the hope that this would somehow cultivate a refined English taste. What a waste of time. Not surprisingly, many have benefited from such grossly misplaced emphasis at the expanse of the whole nation: too much educational resources have been wasted or underutilized.The most important thing in the complete MASTERY of a language, at least in this author, is to put one’s heart and mind TOGETHER to wherever they need to be, whether in learning grammar, vocabulary, different modes of thinking or linguistic aesthetics. Additionally, a little knowledge on history, of the language in concern, is an absolute must.Just my two cents on language acquisition and retention.