THEY BUZZ: Saddleback College's "Mission, Vision, and Values"

     This post is the second of a series that offers critiques of our district and colleges' verbiage explaining who we are and what we stand for. (See Districtular Poppycock & District and college goals and values.)
     Today: a review of Saddleback College's "Mission, Vision, and Values" page.

I. Bigger is better

     The page presents SC's mission, vision, and values, in that order.
     But before it offers those things, it offers this unlabeled statement:

     Saddleback College is the largest member of the South Orange County Community College District, and the College offers educational opportunities and support services to a diverse and growing population in southern Orange County.

     So, what is this? Well, if it were to have a label or heading, it might be "our opening remark that isn’t a mission- or vision- or values-statement but must be pretty important anyway, since we’re saying it first."
     Whatever sort of thing this statement is, it’s odd. It makes two points, the first being that SC is larger than IVC or ATEP.
     Is that supposed to be a good thing?
     Well, it’s the first point made on a page about the college’s “mission, vision, and values.” It’s paired with a point about a SC accomplishment or ambition (namely, offering opportunities, etc.). So the college seems to be saying that “bigger is better” and, natch, “we’re bigger.” Gosh.
     No doubt some will say that this verbiage merely provides information: SC is the bigger of the two colleges of a two-college district. But I think it’s fair to ask why this point is emphasized by putting it first or even including it on a page about values. If you want to describe the college, why not mention simply that it is the southern campus?

II. Inelegance R Us

Our Mission:

Saddleback College enriches its students and the south Orange County community by providing a comprehensive array of high-quality courses and programs that foster student learning and success in the attainment of academic degrees and career technical certificates, transfer to four-year institutions, improvement of basic skills, and lifelong learning.

     Like the district’s mission, the SC mission seems to be a statement of purpose and a task to be accomplished. Fair enough.
     It is inelegant. Its structure is: “SC enriches its students and the … community by providing X that foster Y.” –Well, it might be serviceable anyway. We’ll see.
     A review of the OED and MW* entries for the word “enrich” supports the commonsensical notion that the word “enrich” tends to be about making something or someone rich or richer; hence, “enrichment” isn’t really something that happens to individuals, except in the literal sense (viz., making them wealthier). Do you really “improve or enhance the quality or value of” (MW) a person? One might improve their experiences or their course of study; but one does not improve their quality/value (except, I suppose, in the case of children with regard to moral development).
     Obviously, within education, this peculiar use of “enrich” has become common. That's no justification. We should do better than to speak like illiterates.
     The SC mission is trying to say that the college assists in the development of its students. How so? By providing instruction (courses, programs). OK.
     The college’s instruction “fosters”—i.e., promotes the development of (see MW)—learning. –That’s awfully vague. “Our instruction promotes the development of learning.” –It seems unnecessarily complex, too: promotion, development, learning. Why not just say that we intend to teach well? Why not speak in plain English?
     The college’s instruction fosters (again, promotes the development of) one more thing: “success in the attainment of academic degrees and career technical certificates, transfer to four-year institutions, improvement of basic skills, and lifelong learning.”
     Isn’t “success in the attainment” of something just attaining it? (YEP.) So the college’s instruction promotes the development of attaining degrees, certificates, transfers.
     Clearly, “fostering” (promoting the development of, or just “developing”) is just the wrong word here. They’re trying to say that the college’s instruction helps students to attain degrees, certificates, and transfers.
     But, tacked onto the list is “improvement of basic skills and lifelong learning.”
     OK, so the college’s instruction promotes the development of attaining “improvement of basic skills, and lifelong learning.”
     –Lord, what a mess. As a piece of writing (or logic), it’s pretty embarrassing.
     No doubt they’re trying to say that some of the college’s instruction teaches “basic skills.” (I’m going to ignore “lifelong learning” except to say that that’s a buzzword. Why not de-buzzwordify it? Why do we have to speak like assholes?)

III. We buzz

Let’s turn to SC’s “vision”:

Our Vision:
     Saddleback College will be the first choice of students who seek a dynamic, innovative, and student-centered postsecondary education.

     Previously, we found that the district’s so-called “vision” was actually a statement of purpose. It did not identify a yet-to-be-achieved goal (i.e., an aspiration). Essentially, it identified what the district achieves (namely, that it [i.e., its faculty] teaches well and that students succeed).
     The SC vision seems to be more clearly aspirational. It identifies what it understands as an excellent education, and then it asserts that SC “will be the first choice” of those who seek that kind of education. OK.
     It seems to me that this vision statement essentially expresses the ambition to be the best college around. I would say that it isn’t quite implying that it isn’t already that college. “This is who we want to be, and, hell, maybe it’s what we already are.” That seems to be the idea.
     This bring me to the SC vision’s conception of excellent education.
     Well, education at SC is (or hopes to be)

(the most) dynamic
(the most) innovative
(the most) student-centered

     The Blarney Police have just arrived and they’ve issued several citations.
     What’s dynamic education? —Education that moves and changes, I guess. The OED’s first meaning of the adjective “dynamic” is “of or pertaining to force producing motion: often opposed to static” (1827-81; the OED doesn't seem to give more recent instances of use of this adjective).
     Why suppose that movement and change in education is a good thing? That’s a wacky prejudice, unless it's explained. Is the explanation obvious? I don't see how.
     The OED does offer a third meaning that might explain what the authors have in mind: “Active, potent, energetic, effective, forceful.”
     In this sense of “dynamic,” dynamic education is potent and effective (and forceful).
     Yes, but, again, what if education is happening at the college that manages to be potent and effective without being forceful? It’s a kinder and gentler instruction, I guess. We’re down on that, are we?
     What bullshit.
     And what’s innovative education? That would be new and original education.
     But what if, in a particular instance, the best “education” is traditional? No good, eh? We’re going to do away with it, are we?
     Again, what total bullshit.
     This brings me to student-centered education. What’s that? “student-centered” is a current buzzword. Re buzzwords, the best that can be said about them is that they contain a grain of truth, although those truths tend to be obvious (“let’s keep track of how the students are doing”). The worst thing that can be said, I suppose, is that they over-simplify matters whilst exploiting our childish tendencies to want to be fashionable and trendy (“You go, pupils!”, “What a groovy suggestion!”).
     OK, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with a college wanting to be the best one around. But, as we’ve seen, SC’s vision’s conception of good education is manifestly bullshitty.
     In general, I would say that SC’s vision is essentially the same as one of those lurid “new and improved!” stickers slapped onto a cereal box. It’s bullshit for bullshitters.

IV. To be or to ought to be

     The SC "mission, vision, and values" page goes on to list “our values.” Prepare to be buzzworded. Here they are:

Our Values:

Saddleback College embraces: 

Commitment
We commit to fulfilling our mission to serve the south Orange County community. [We embrace commitment? But commitment is a kind of embrace, no? Plus: you don't value "commitment." Rather, you value commitment to the mission. If you valued commitment per se you'd have to put Stalin and Hitler in your hall of fame.]

Excellence
We dedicate ourselves to excellence in academics, student support, and community service. [OK, you embrace excellence. Might want to spell that out a bit. Pretty vague.]

Collegiality
We foster a climate of integrity, honesty, and respect. [You do? According to the Accreds, you don't. Valuing X and achieving/exemplifying X are two different things.]

Success
We place our highest priority on student learning and delivering comprehensive support for student success. [You want students to succeed in learning, right? So you value student learning. If you valued "success" you'd have to put Ted Bundy in your hall of fame.]

Partnership
We strive to develop strong and lasting partnerships among students, faculty, staff, and the community. [Buzzword gone wild. Organized crime and incest are partnerships, too.]

Innovation
We anticipate and welcome change by encouraging innovation and creativity. [Insight! I'm gonna  start a new form of teaching based on the idea that justifications are unnecessary and oppressive. Happy?]

Academic Freedom
We endorse academic freedom and the open exchange of ideas. [So there'll be no talk of enforcing civility codes, right? Sure hope so.]

Sustainability
We promote environmental sustainability and use our resources responsibly to reduce our ecological impact. [You do this or you intend and ought to do this? Just what are you saying?]

Inclusiveness
We cultivate equity and diversity by embracing all cultures, ideas, and perspectives. [Really? Racist and sexist and irrational ideas and perspectives, too? How do you "embrace" things that contradict each other? Just what are you trying to say, anyway?]

Global Awareness
We recognize the importance of global awareness and prepare our students to live and work in an increasingly interconnected world. [Utter, mindless buzzworditude.]

     *OED=Oxford English Dictionary. MW=Merriam-Webster online dictionary.