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

Page 29 text:

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

Page 28 text:

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

Page 30 text:

lf gl lheflfififk ,J fi' f ' is fx V7 C J . W I i ff. 6' ra: .4 f .K 1. 416,11 .4 , M 5465 4,27 ZF . f i N . ,Lv 4 ., . , af' Lf . .743 . ' 1 f ...sly .' 5 .V - Y 6w51g,iL. ? N111 4 1,5 1 ,-1 KM! if More men from small towns belonged to fra- ternities-and considered themselves shoe - than the average trend toward a society divided along high-prep lines be halted? Or will the private schools con- tinue to develop distinct, aloof characteristics? These were questions which only the pendulum of admissions policy could determine. One of the most disturbing patterns was that of study-groups and grade-groups. The hard studiers and the Dean's Listers were shown to be basically the same as the easy studiers and non-Dean's Listersi' in attitudes and activities. As mentioned earlier, those who classified them- selves hard studiers were no more concentrated in any range of grades than were the self-designated easy studiers. The Deanis List actually showed a larger percentage of those who crammed in an effort to beat the game than of those who fol- lowed a consistent daily study routine! Membership in R.O.T.C. seemed to affect grades little, a smaller percentage were on the Dean's List, but the difference was insignificant. Only slightly more Dean's List students, and only slightly more hard studiers had decided on a career, only slightly fewer movies a month were seen by Dean's List men, only slightly fewer Dean's List men partici- pated in athletics-they were more active in inter- college athletics. The number of dates one has per month seems not to have the expected corresponding effect on grades, Dean's List men actually have more dates per month than their less-blessed classmates. Twenty-six The only really noticeable gap is in expectation concerning military service: Dean's List feel even more strongly than the Yale average about the slight value of two years in service. Forty percent do not expect to go into the armed services before or shortly after graduation. Fraternities continue to be an integral part of the Yale scene. Unlike other schools where fra- ternities wield considerable campus political power, or where fraternity members take up four years' residence in the house, the Greek-letter organiza- tions at Yale are merely more advanced forms of eating and drinking clubs. The results of the Banner Survey would seem to indicate that fraternity men, like prep-school men, have developed certain distinct and characteristic patterns of thought. In some cases these patterns are rejected by the rest of the Yale community, more frequently, however, the fraternity system sets the pace and the tone of life throughout the undergraduate sector of the university. The non-drinkers among fraternity men are less than half the abstaining portion of the Yale aver- age. Considerably more fraternity men than non- fraternity men know large numbers of their classmates. Almost half of all fraternity members have three or more dates per month, the Yale aver- age is less than 300721. The Smith-Vassar combina- tion receives an even larger degree of approval among fraternity men than in the overall picture: four-fifths voted for one of these two colleges as their favorite, with Vassar alone counting for 4872 of the total fraternity votes. Less than a third of the fraternity men wear white buckskin shoes. Reaction against being typed, against a previously accepted Yalie trademark, against the general disfavorable conno- tations which accompany immediate conformity to imposed standards-these seem to be the basic mo- tives behind the reverse trend in footwear. More significant than the problem of what a Yale man wears, however, is what he thinks. And here is the area in which the fraternity psychology makes itself strikingly clear. Almost half of all students would select Phi Beta Kappa for Tau Beta Pi, the engineering school's corresponding groupj if they were allowed to choose only one such honor or achievement while at Yale, the fra- ternity figures are less than a third. The question as to the aspect of Yale life which would prove of most value after college showed similar gaps: fraternity men valued studies less, valuable friend- ships much less, social experiencev much more.