Students at Goddard work with faculty to direct their studies according to their personal and professional interests, goals, gifts, and desires. Students develop the capacity to understand their lives in an ever-changing social context, and thereby to take meaningful action in the world. They are encouraged to question received knowledge and the status quo and to create new understandings of the world and of human experience. As a collaborative interdependent learning community, differing perspectives are respected, included and appreciated.  Students are encouraged to embrace uncertainty, experiment, and imagine unexpected outcomes. Recognizing the interconnectedness with others and with the earth, scholarship and action are held to the highest standards of integrity, authenticity, and compassion