The World You Want to Live and Work In

In the 1960s, Paul Goodman asked students to "Think about the kind of world you want to live and work in. What do you need to know to help build that world? Demand that your teachers teach you that." That’s the challenge of a liberal education—to learn the traditions (intellectual, artistic, institutional, moral) that are the gift of the past, and to use them to make your gift to the future. St. Olaf’s motto is “Ideals to Action.” We hope you’ll embody it fully as you come to St. Olaf to think and act with us.