Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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The Yale Man In 1953: An Analysis They have called todayys college men and women The Silent Generation -a generation in which ambitions have shrunk, in which there is a feeling that it is neither desirable nor prac- tical to do things that are different from what the next fellow is doing,', a generation which, uperhaps more than any of its predecessors . . . wants a good secure job. This was the picture painted of the college-aged sector of the popula- tion, it was a picture of intellectual stagnation, of political apathy, a picture of restraint and tepidity and resignation. Lacking the zest for life and the studied abandon of The Jazz Age, lacking even the dramatic despondency of the Lost Generation, they seemed caught in a web of futility and aimlessness. Born in the shadow of an economic upheaval, growing to adolescence against a background of world conflict, maturing in the face of political and ideological cleavage at every turn, they were the disillusioned products of a disordered World. Their characteristic atti- tude was indifference, their shibbolerh, security. At Yale the indictment of the generation found strong support and fervent denial. Sheward Hag- erty wrote in his class history of 1952, l'We had failed our youth. In the institutions and pat- terns of thought and actions of his fellow students he found no response, no sound or fury. This was the charge with which the Yale man was faced as he stepped reluctantly into an uncertain future. The Banner Poll was conducted in an effort to study the Yale man as he lived and as he thought in 1953. What were the basic trends and mo- tivations in his life at Yale? Was he characteristic of his generation? How well did he carry out in reality the goals of his ideals? What were the problems which concerned him, and how did he meet them in his daily life? How true was the indictment against him? With these questions as a base of operationsf, the pollsters queried the student concerning subjects ranging from his studies, to his opinion concerning service in the armed forces, to his aspirations for the future. These pages represent his answers. Perhaps one of the most striking facts about the Yale man in 1953 was the diversity of his Twenly background. The days of an enrollment composed almost entirely of New Englanders has passed with the Yale Fence and the P0f-P0'lH'Yij from the cos- mopolitan atmosphere which permeated the Yale community as the Banner went to press, it seemed to be an era which would not return, The 1953 student body hailed from 47 states and 50 foreign countries. The geographical distribution was matched in its scope by the size of the communities in which these students made their homes. Almost a quarter of them lived in towns of less than 10,000 popu- lation, while approximately IOQQ made their residence in New York City. Income was likewise a widely varying item: one out of five Yale families earned from 520,000 to 550,000 annually, but an almost equal number had a yearly income of under S6,000. This pattern was some- what typical of Yale itself in 1953-an odd but apparently cohesive mixture of old traditions and new innovations. Sons of rich men still came to Yale, but almost a third of the student body had scholarships of one type or another. In the class of 1935, 7792? had entered Yale from private schools, in the 1945 class the figures had dropped to 68.1f??. The class of 1955 dis- 2873 found it easy to beat the game

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The Banner Sur ey 1952-1953 In an attempt to determine with some degree of validity the salient factors in the makeup of the Yale man, the Yale Banner in 1952-1953 conducted an extensive survey. Its plan was simple: to investigate the nature of the Yale manis attitudes and activities in several phases of his life as an undergraduate. Chief among these phases were academic, social, athletic, and extra-curricular. An insight into his standards and ambitions was gained through the inclusion of several questions relating to his goals at Yale and in later life. The political poll aimed at ascertaining the character of, and the basis for, the Yale man's preferences and predictions in the recent presidential campaign. Incidental to the Survey, but perhaps most interesting of all, were correlations of the results from the point of view of the pollee's membership in any of several groups.,' The facts for this survey were collected from two polls of over seventy questions each. The first was taken in October, 1952, during the fervor and excitement of a great political campaign. The second poll was dis- tributed in January, 1953, containing questions of a personal nature relating primarily to Yale life. When the results were tabulated, considerable effort was taken to correlate the findings so as to gain an element of interdepend- ence between questions and discover factors contributing to various trends. Two groups of Yale undergraduates were selected at random for the poll. The results were tabulated and correlated by the use of IBM machines at the Department of Applied Physiology. Faculty experts examined the poll and judged it statistically sound. The results are within 3.7729 repre:enta- tive of the undergraduate student body. The Yale Banner staff is grateful to Mrs. P. B. Lettis and to Dr. Robert Strauss of the Department of Applied Physiology whose kind help facilitated tabulating the polls. Bradford P. Shaw, 1954, drew the cartoons in this sectiong the graphs were drawn by Philip P. Durand, 1955. 2' Q.-2 -axle . , -1f ' f 'fi .ag M ., -, Q .V-,saw 1 I,-45 , V- ai ,cy in fi' j 5 y. , .frtfxt , f ll

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uemsusr r warresane Six or more movies per month played a similar tendency as the prep-school sector fell to a three-fifths dominancyg a steadily rising flux of high school trained applicants seemed to indicate a continual leveling-off process in the immediate future. HE THINKS AND DOES . Academic More and more the Yale man, like other mem- bers of the college generation, was usinghis edu- cation with the idea of a future career in mind. The search for some sort of future security was reflected in the increased enrollment in the spe- cialized coursesg in its centennial year the En- gineering School was engaged in the training of over one-fifth of the student body. The greatest number majored in history, in 1953 there was less of the attitude, so prevalent in recent years, of making a success in the world of business simply because one was a Yale graduate. Only SW had averages under 70W, and one-third were members of the intellectual elite -the dean's list. lnflated grades had sent the gentleman's averagel' sky-rocketingg but the mark-lowering policy which was soon to come into effect bode no good for borderline cases. In- tellectual curiosity seemed to be on the down- grade, as less than ten percent audited courses. The Yale man spent an average of five hours a week studying for each course, and found the greatest enemies to study noise in rooms and laziness. Only one in three polled felt that he studied sufiiciently, and almost as many answered uyesv when asked Do you Hnd it easy to 'beat the game' and receive marks higher than you think to yourself that you deserve? fReferring to cram- ming, etc.j,' Studies seemed to be declining in importance in the undergraduate's mind, and few found that consistent work produced any appreciable results: in no grading area were those who studied less than four hours per week per subject less concentrated than those who studied up to nine hours per week per subject. The mark- ing system seemed to place a premium on I.Q., and relatively little value on diligent study. Extra-Curricular The Yale man has a strong desire for balance, for proficiency in many things. Yale, always an activity-ridden school, was more blessed-or cursed-than ever in 19535 F. Scott Fitzgerald,s observation that Princeton was for the social- minded, Harvard for the intellectuals and indi- vidualists, and Yale for the ambitious seemed to be just as accurate now as it was in 1920. Less than 40? felt that extra-curricular activities occupied an amount of time out of proportion to the benefit received from them. Three of five Yale men thought that extra-curricular activities were a measure of success in later life. Only one-fourth of those asked had no opinion either pro or con concerning the question, Do you feel that the contributions of Torch and Aurelian justify their existence? reflecting, perhaps, a lack of awareness of, or interest in, the activities of the honor societies. Over half felt that senior societies should be allowed to continue in their present form. Some degree of dissatisfaetion was increasingly evident, but, in general, the apex of the Yale triangle of success remained unshaken by the Vitriolic at- tacks on the umumbo-jumbov behind which their activities were largely cloaked, and on the ancient tribal rites of Tap Day. Athletic Over 90170 feel that athletics at Yale are prop- erly emphasized, but considerably fewer partici- pate. The most striking increase in recent years has been in the interest in inter-college and intra- mural athletics: 7075 call them essential and im- portant activities. A substantial majority of Yale men are opposed to increasing intersectional games on the varsity athletic schedule. Most students seemed to realize Twenty-one