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

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sm Km 'MZ 1 If you could join only one, which would you join? percentage would choose Phi Beta Kappa-far above fraternity, senior society, varsity team, or extra-curricular activity--if they could belong to only one while at Yale. Few, however, were willing to make an effort suilicient to achieve a measure of mastery of their studies. On Yale William Buckley's thesis that Yale is atheistic and Hcolleetivisticn was consistently denied by those polled in the Banner Survey. About 7026 found that their political opinions had remained approximately the same since coming to Yaleg whether the strong traditional conservatism here reflected is a product of Yale or of the homes of its students was undeterminable. The collectivist theory in particular met with little agreement, only ZW felt that Yale should teach only the American System , 6022 that she should teach all systems impartiallyf, Over 90f?Q felt that Yale does not foster radical ideas. The uatheisticu charge was somewhat less decisively contradicted: two-thirds believed that Yale does not foster agnosticism. The Banner Survey determined that half of all Yale men knew too little about the Ford Founda- tion program to estimate the extent of its success, and that there was a general dissatisfaction with a community of the size and type of New Haven as a site for Yale. Lastly, a majority think that Yale's general national prestige is higher than that of Twenly-four

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ii, . af! V 3 er seemed admirably suited to his customers' tastes. The pocket-sized sex chronicles l.kewise had a rapid turnover on the shelves at Liggetts. One of five owns an automobile, while only 14'Zp consider the possession of a car useful and necessaryf' Cross-correlations conclusively indi- cate that car ownership has no appreciable effect on grades. The question of dating was a dominant factor in the series of crises which seemed to char- acterize life at Yale. Women, liquor, and no lights, was the description the Radclife News gave to a Yale weekend, and there were few who would argue its validity. The majority had two dates a month, smokers and drinkers, adding a third vice, had slightly more extensive dating activity. Almost half favored a weekend in New Haven to a date at a girls' college or in New York or Boston. The parietal regulations were the object of some tight squeezes and some notable violations. Two of three Yale men prefer Smith or Vassar to any other women's college, and the Bermuda shorts, so conspicuous on York Street in the spring, testify eloquently to this popularity. Military Service Five years ago three in five Yale men were veterans, today this figure is between 1 and ZW. Almost half of all students are members of one of the three branches of R.O.T.C., with the Depart- ment of Air Science alone representing nearly one quarter. About 75? see a khaki-colored fu- ture, which, in light of the present situation, would seem to indicate a fundamental acceptance of reality. But the characteristic attitude seems to be one of desire to remain out of the service as long as possibleg this desire, perhaps, is less a lack of patriotism than a disillusionment with the world with which they are faced after graduation -a world in which Americans are fighting a limited war, but a war in which death and injury seem remarkably unlimited. Few have illusions about the service: 8512 think two years' service in the armed forces will be of moderate or of little or no value. At the same time more than two-thirds favor universal military training. The results of the questions on this subject are a strange mixture of acceptance of the world situation with all its implications, and a desire to forego the heavy responsibilities and obligations left to this generation by those who have gone before. In a sense, this confusion and uncertainty seems to be characteristic of much of the attitude of the Silent Generation. Goals There was little evidence of any clearly defined set of goals in the Yale man's plans for life after college. Work, advanced study, marriage, a family -these were uppermost in his mind, but, like many of his ambitions and his hopes, his plans and his projects, they were sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought. The impending danger of war and military service seemed to be throwing ice water on the traditionally impetuous and tempestu- ous aspirations of youth. More than a third were undecided on a future career. There was little romanticism, little of the rushing into marriage which had become almost an expected part of the American scene in war time. The pollees were asked: Assuming you are engaged before leaving college and expected to enter the service immediately thereafter, would you . . . g almost half checked the alternative wait until after your service was done. Only one Yale man in a hundred thought that the best time for a college man to marry was during college. His goals at Yale show a considerably greater degree of decision and definition, but the cleavage between what he wants and what he is willing to go out and get is striking. Almost one half think that studies will be, in later life, the most valuable aspect of the Yale experienceg the same Bacchus holds sway with Venus-Drinking men averaged more dates I I I- ' Q - 1 P I -X All J'-4-fi' 'T ,gg , affair. ,fi 1g..i if .5 'v E-Effrfzf j 2 ef. fffgavr-'Q-r 'P' f34a-ff , 1- '57 1153.--...Pl 11 pgy Twenty'-lbrve

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both Princeton and Harvard. If his faith in the wide, wide world was somewhat shaken, the Yale man of 195 3 could still turn to his own, somewhat more limited World to find the assurance and secur- ity he so desired. There Are Groups . . What was the influence of groups on life at Yale? What effect did a man's membership in a particular classification, in a particular organization, have on his approach to or digression from the Yale norm? Did these sepa- rate groups -whether based on a difference in status or a difference in role of their component members-have an equal or unequal prominence on the Yale scene? Did membership in them by definition mark a man as different from h.s fel- lows? If so, was it a pattern of distinction which was manifested in all his activities and attitudes? Or was it more a sort of differential adjustment to the Yale standards which the individual groups fostered or discouraged? These were the questions which the Banner sur- veyors sought to answer as they correlated, cross- correlated, back-correlated, and cursed. As the proper percentages began to fall in their proper places, a general thesis became increasingly self- evident: Groups at Yale are singularly important, and singularly unimportant. Some groups have no effect on a member's attitudes or drives, some have profound influence. To substantiate this theory certain groups were asked a selected number of questions from the personal survey, the answers were compared with the findings of Various other groups. These are the results: Small town vs. large town seems to be a mean- ingless conflict at Yale. If anything, Don from Dubuque adjusts better socially than does the Park Avenue cliff-dweller who lives across the hall. The percentage of small-town boys in fraternities is, surprisingly enough, greater than the Yale average, the boys from smaller communities apparently feel more keenly the need for social contact, are more anxious to establish a social tie,' of some recog- nized sort. The same slight increase gap from the Yale average is seen in the small-town seniors who know three-fourths or more of the members of their colleges, and it is again manifested in the figures on dating: boys from relatively smaller towns date relatively more. Is Yale democratic socially? The answers in the large-city, small-town, and Yale aver- age columns are almost exactly equal. The size of one's home town, it seems, does not materially alter the degree of social adaptation or of outlook on the Yale social system. This group, the Banner surveyors agreed, appeared to be one of the least significant from the point of view of creating friction and producing a basis for social distinction. Considerably more significant was the high- school in contrast to the prep-school man. Here was a group that was formed before coming to Yale, but one which was to be of lasting cohesion over the years. Marquand's gently chiding pictures of loyalty to the old school found' a living exam- ple in the Yale of 1953, in many cases feeling for the memories of prep-school days superseded senti- ments for Yale. The prep-school group has become a more compact, more uniform group as the per- centage of high-school applicants increased, and with this compression into a smaller, more tightly- knit set has come the establishment of a definite set of characteristics, a definite set of values. High-school-educated students study harder 46271 from five to six hours per week per subjectj , find considerably more difficult the trick of beat- ing the game, as the survey termed it. Prep-school experience gives the advantages not only of greater span and depth of curriculum, more stringent disci- plinary training and higher grade of instruction, but a certain knack of studying as well: the prep school man knows, from years of practice, how to maximize grades while minimizing effort. The re- sult is, frequently, an intelligent person doing lim- ited work and getting grades far above what he deserves for his effort but far under what he is capable of getting. Fewer high-schoolers smoke, considerably fewer drink-of those Who do, a larger percentage began after entering Yale than the overall average. A much smaller portion 114191 of high school men join fraternities than the Yale average QZSWQ, more money, a smaller number with scholarships, a large group of upperclassmen known from pre- Yale days-these are the basic factors underlying the prep-school domination of the fraternity mem- bership rolls. The preparatory school is thus a fundamental differentiating factor on the Yale scene. As the high school ratio continues to rise, as high school education continues to approach the quality offered by a prep-school training, will the Twenty-five