The student investigating college options faces a range of critical considerations. The school’s costs, location, faculty, status, and other factors must be assessed along with the likelihood of being admitted. It is then probable that the college motto is usually dismissed as unimportant, or as only a generic affirmation of core values. To some extent, this is certainly true, and if only because a few words cannot possibly convey all that a college offers. The question then arises: what benefit exists in the motto itself? The answer relies on the student’s perspective and, of course, the college itself. Ultimately, and while it is reasonable to discount any genuine impact or meaning of the college motto, these simple statements may also resonate in ways assisting the student in making the right choice.
Before the authentic potential of the motto in guiding student decision-making may be understood, it is important to recognize the more obvious limitations of it. The motto exists to summarize the school’s core philosophy and to give the student some sense of what the college most esteems (Budd 226). At the same time, however, there exists the inescapable reality that any institution as inevitably complex as even a small college cannot be defined within a few words. A motto, and no matter the intent or school philosophy behind it, is essentially an aphorism. For example, Catawba College’s motto reads, “Scholarship. Character. Culture. Service.” It heads a mission statement affirming a school history as dedicated to Christian ideologies and American traditions of virtue (Catawba). The North Carolina’s motto then relies on both a distinctive format and a generalized expression of values. The motto has a pragmatic force emphasized by the four principles so punctuated. Still, the student is essentially provided with little more than a brief “laundry list” of admirable qualities. The same approach exists in other school mottos of, “Think. Grow. Change,” and, “Dream, challenge, succeed.” The distinctive format aside, they have little impact because the terminology itself is basically rote, and easily applicable to most other colleges.
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The above notwithstanding, there is evidence that a college may adopt a motto that has practical value in providing a unique sense of the school. Ultimately, these efforts derive from the school’s investment in expressing a statement that goes beyond ethical generalizations, and an interesting example of this is seen with another North Carolina college, Warren Wilson. Its motto is: “We’re not for everyone…but then, maybe you’re not everyone,” and this is unusual in several respects. To begin with, the language greatly deviates from the typical motto’s formal expression of only several ethics or aspirations. It offers none of these, in fact. Then, the wording is strangely casual, using contractions, which attracts the reader’s attention. The message itself is also compelling in that it has a “mysterious” quality to it, and indicates a preference for students not necessarily committed to the traditional.
When the school is examined, moreover, the interesting reality emerges that student population is relatively small, and typical classrooms hold only fifteen students (Schuman 109). Warren Wilson is a Liberal Arts school and the motto reinforces how such a focus attracts students apart from the mainstream. Other mottos take this course as well, as in “Knowledge itself is liberty,” and “Learning humanizes character and does not permit it to be cruel.” These are mottos making direct, unambiguous statements, and presenting the school’s fundamental concerns regarding character and society.
Consequently, the college motto, like other messages created to distill an institution’s essence, is only as valuable as its content. It is likely that schools do not set mottos in place with little thought; the college that affirms its adherence to the highest standards of morality is obligated to demonstrate this credo in all aspects of its being (Kelly, Saunders 16). This responsibility then translates into variations of emphasis, as in the University of Florida motto, “The welfare of the state depends upon the morals of its citizens.”
Interestingly, this suggests that the student is expected to develop the appropriate morality, as it has a political component seen in other school mottos of “Knowledge itself is liberty,” “Above all nations is humanity,” and “Education for citizenship.” These are mottos conveying, in only simple statements, a specific ideology reflecting specific, civic individual responsibility to the society. It must also be added that even the more generic, platitudinous motto may have this same value for the student. If banal in a changed world, as in “To the top” or “Dare to learn” it nonetheless reinforces the school’s insistence on the value of higher education, and informs the student of the college’s character.
It seems likely that the motto is of the least concern to the student investigating colleges. This is also understandable; higher learning institutions have long been noted for rote, generalized expressions of the reasons for being. A closer examination of the subject, however, reveals that the motto may well serve a real purpose, if only in providing the student with a sense of what is most meaningful to the school. This is not easy to achieve, given the motto as inherently an extremely brief statement, but, as has been seen, it can be done. In the final analysis, and while it is reasonable to believe that no genuine impact or meaning is offered by the college motto, these brief statements may also resonate in ways assisting the student in making the right choice.
