ATLANTA – Most college students associate the saying "reduce, reuse, recycle" with environmental sustainability, said Agnes Scott College President Elizabeth Kiss during the 2008 Opening Convocation and Honors Day.
Add "rethink" and the words hold their "green" cachet yet acquire metaphorical quality to represent liberal education.
“Reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink” helps fulfill the objective to become an environmentally sustainable college community as identified in "Engaging a Wider World," the Agnes Scott Strategic Plan for 2014, Kiss said.
“My theme this morning is the power of rethinking,” Kiss explained. "It's inspired by a new version of the Scottie dog logo that you will be seeing around campus this fall. The Scottie is wearing a green ribbon and is saying the words ‘Grrr-reduce, grrr-reuse, grrr-recycle, grrr-rethink,’” she described.
"But I was most intrigued by the selection of the new component – rethink. Thinking after all is the heart of the college's mission – it's right there in our mission statement,” she said. "We educate women – and a few good men I'd like to add to acknowledge our male M.A.T. and Post-Bac Pre-Med students – to think deeply, live honorably and engage the social and intellectual challenges of their times.
"Fundamentally the goal of a liberal education is to produce people who have the tools to think deeply and critically and to lead lives of purpose and consequence informed by that thinking," Kiss said.
Consider the tortured expression on the face of Rodin's sculpture "The Thinker," which adds a kind of metaphor for the sometimes difficult collaborative process required to develop command of the critical thinking process, Kiss suggested.
"It's something we most often learn to do together through probing seminar discussions and through writing or research or performance that is shared, critiqued, revised and shared again.
"In late-night residence hall conversations we bare our minds, hearts and souls and in our many deliberations together about how we as a college should move forward," Kiss reflected. "That's what we mean when we say a liberal education is designed for lifelong learning. Because it isn't simply a matter of mastering a particular skill that we then put into practice – almost certainly we expect our students to master many new skills.
"But rather it's the acquisition of skills and capabilities that enable you to navigate new and unfamiliar territory," Kiss said. "We want you to be able to think and rethink – indeed to continually rethink the world and your place and role within it."
Kiss noted that rethinking has three key features. It crosses boundaries and challenges categories. It turns challenges into opportunities. It turns answers into questions.
As an example of the way rethinking crosses boundaries, Kiss suggested recent research of tool use among certain species that may even challenge what it means to be human.
Or consider the story of "Post-It" notes as an example of the second key feature – how challenges turned into opportunities. Kiss told the story of Spencer Silver, the 3M researcher who was seeking to make a super-strong adhesive but instead ended up with a very weak source of stickiness.
Silver abandoned his research, but four years later a coworker remembered his colleague’s research when searching for a source of small removable bookmarks. "Presto, the Post It note was born," she said, adding that it actually took another six years before the product was introduced.
As a way rethinking may turn answers into questions in the liberal learning process, Kiss returned to her original example of adding "rethink" to "reduce, reuse, recycle."
"A vibrant and intelligent approach to sustainability requires a continual willingness to question our assumptions and actions," she said. "Finding the right balance between critique and commitment is truly one of the central goals of a liberal education. And what drives the effort to find that balance – is rethinking." "
And the president noted one additional new opportunity to rethink, the beginning of the new Agnes Scott Believes program. Each Friday students, faculty and staff will be invited to gather at the Julia Thompson Smith Chapel to reflect on their core beliefs.
"This new program modeled on the National Public Radio segment 'This I Believe' will be a wonderful opportunity for all of us to reflect on and rethink who we are and what we stand for – what differentiates us and unites us and for us all to be inspired by the marvelous diverse and inclusive community that is Agnes Scott."
In closing, Kiss reminded her audience of the new U.S. News & World Report rankings category reported last week called "Schools to Watch," in which Agnes Scott was ranked number nine in the nation.
"I'm so proud of all of us in this extraordinary and creative and innovative community that put us on that list," she said. "We are indeed a 'School to Watch,', and it is the power of rethinking that will keep us there."
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Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times. Students are drawn to Agnes Scott by its excellent academic reputation, exceptional faculty, and metropolitan Atlanta location – offering myriad cultural and experiential learning opportunities. A diverse and growing residential community of scholars, this highly selective liberal arts and sciences college is known for its dynamic and challenging intellectual community. Encouraging students to engage the wider world through study abroad and presenting its curriculum with international context, Agnes Scott College delivers on its promise: The World for Women.