Cultural Tradition of Yale University

Yale's most important management feature is "professor running the school", which has a great influence on American higher education. At the beginning of the school, with the efforts of three generations of presidents, Yale gradually formed a law that the board of directors did not specifically participate in the management of school affairs, but professors would run the school. There was a saying in the United States at that time: "Princeton directors are in power, Harvard presidents are in power, and Yale professors are in power."

For more than 300 years, Yale people have been proud of being able to adhere to the spirit of independence and not compromise external political pressure and material interests-/kloc-In the middle of the 8th century, when Thomas Klepp was the dean, he insisted that Yale was an aristocratic private school and emphasized the independence of universities. To this end, he took all possible ways to resist the interference of local governments until he resorted to the law. During the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the American government ordered that all students who claimed to be anti-war for moral or religious reasons should not receive scholarships. At that time, many famous schools in the United States followed the instructions of the government. Only Yale adheres to the consistent style of academic independence, and continues to consider the performance of the applicant as the only principle, completely ignoring the government's regulations. As a result, Yale lost a lot of money from the federal government, and was in trouble several times economically, but its belief remained unchanged. Richard levin, the current president, refused a donation of $20 million without hesitation, because the donor put forward additional requirements for the courses offered by Yale and the appointment of professors.

Even when former President Bush was invited back to his alma mater to receive an honorary doctorate in law, professors and students of Yale University publicly expressed their opposition: It was May 5438+0, 2006. On the traditional graduation day, when the President announced that he would be awarded an honorary doctorate in law, the students responded with laughter, boos and whistles, and some recent graduates even put up a big banner: "We won our own degree. More than 200 professors collectively refused to attend the graduation ceremony, thinking that Bush and the school did it purely for fame, because according to his performance and achievements in school, Bush was not qualified to accept such an honorary title.

Professor Tian Changlin, former president of the University of California, once said: "In the United States, there is an understanding that which school has strong professors will become the most famous school in the future." Professor governance is not only regarded as the standard by Berkeley, but also respected by Yale for more than 300 years. One of the goals of humanities education in Yale University is to cultivate students' humanistic feelings-a rational attitude to explore the true meaning of life, that is, to care about the realization of life value, human freedom and equality, and the harmony between man and society and nature. Therefore, on the emblem of Yale, the words "light and true knowledge" are written, that is, the clergy who inherit the European humanistic tradition and train for the church, more specifically, the clergy who train for justice and the people-1701Yale Charter states that the purpose of education is to enable young people to "serve the church and the public". Richard levin, the current principal, also said: "Let young students use their achievements in academic and artistic fields to contribute to society and work hard for the improvement of human living conditions."

/kloc-at the beginning of the 0/9th century, the United States proposed that university courses should focus on practical subjects, and many universities in the eastern United States offered practical subjects in succession. The wave of curriculum reform is impacting American universities and Yale, which is famous for its conservatism. It quickly responded to this wave. Thus, in 1828, Yale, under the leadership of President Jeremiah Day, published the famous Yale Report.

The Yale report strongly affirms the important value of humanistic education with classical subjects as the main body, and rejects scientific practical education, claiming that "nothing is more practical than a good theory, nothing is more useful than humanistic education, the teaching courses offered by universities for undergraduates do not include career research, and specialization must start later ... psychological training will make students more responsible to society". The report is hostile to practical vocational and technical courses and insists on studying students' subjects extensively and deeply, which is of great benefit to students' good education and humanistic care.

The publication of Yale Report had a great influence on American higher education. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/9th century, Germany's freedom of study had a far-reaching impact on the United States. American universities not only accepted the idea of freedom of learning, but also institutionalized it for the first time by establishing course selection system and credit system. However, the establishment of American elective system has experienced a tortuous process. As early as Thomas Jefferson's time, William and Mary College and the University of Virginia adopted elective courses one after another, but these early reforms were soon suspended because of the publication of the Yale report 1828.

In order to adhere to the academic mission of pursuing truth and increasing knowledge, Professor Schmidt, who served as president from 65438 to 0986, stressed that Yale must adhere to absolute freedom of thought and unshakable academic pursuit belief. He also stressed at the opening ceremony that Yale freshmen should accept this new university concept like every generation of old alumni. Yale regards cultivating students to be "responsible citizens" who are patriotic and can fulfill their responsibilities and obligations to the country as the lofty goal of university moral education, and emphasizes that students must have the "national spirit" of the United States, be proud of the strength of the United States at all times and do their duty for it, and "Americanize" the influx of new immigrants.

Some areas that have been ignored or challenged in quantitative reasoning, such as race and ethnic minorities, women, etc. More than 100 students participate in it every year. Although students will spend most of their time studying, they can always find ways to relax themselves. They can take part in many extracurricular activities and club activities. New york is less than 1 hour drive from school, and there is a train every hour. It is also convenient to go to Boston here, but most students still choose to participate in campus activities on weekends.

Compared with its competitors, Yale is more popular with girls. All men's groups or singing groups here have corresponding women's groups. Yale students and alumni are more open than Harvard and Princeton. They are never shy about expressing their views and are very concerned about hot topics around the world.

Yale has 50-60 officially registered campus art societies that cater to different people's hobbies, such as belly dancing, classical chamber music, China's calligraphy and fashion design. There are also Yale Choir, Yale Drama Troupe, Yale Band, Choir and so on. , are traditional societies deeply rooted in the hearts of Yale College for a long time.

Students spend a lot of time in newspapers, radio stations and computer centers. Choir is famous for its sociality. Members will get together for drinks on weekends, or go out for a trip during spring break. Most secret organizations in Yale, such as skull and bones (former President Bush is one of them), have mausoleum-like meeting places, and they will send invitations to qualified people.

In large-scale activities, the drinking age of 2 1 year-old is strictly controlled, but it is not so strict in some small gatherings of individuals. Film-related clubs will play movies for students free of charge, and the school's theaters and performance centers often organize Broadway artists and song and dance troupes to tour. In addition, there are natural history and art museums for everyone to visit.

Students all think that New Haven is a perfect university town, where students love sports, and competitions between dormitory colleges are always the hottest, and the winning team can get beautiful trophies. In addition, 2,000 Yale students take part in various jobs in schools, hospitals, communities and shopping malls in New Haven in their spare time, such as volunteers, interns and work-study programs.

In a word, Yale University is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States, and students conscientiously implement its motto-"For God, for the country, for Yale". Yale alumni did deliver on their promises. The presidents of more than 70 American universities are all Yale graduates, and the three American presidents before Obama are all Yale people. Skull and bones (skull and bones, Knights of Death, Knights, Star of Cooperation, Acura Club, Room 322, skull and bones).

In the quiet campus of Yale University, there is a small building like a Greek temple, and several narrow windows are closed all the year round. The whole building is shrouded in deep mystery. This humble building is the most mysterious and powerful homecoming site in America. Never open to the outside world, it has always maintained its own unique color and elite style, and there is also a chilling name called "skull and bones". Skull and bones has extremely mysterious membership rules, and even more daunting is its membership list. From this skull and bones, there are three American presidents, two Supreme Court justices, as well as numerous American congressmen and senior cabinet officials. 172 years later, skull and bones's members are almost everywhere, from the White House, Congress, cabinet ministries, the Supreme Court and even the Central Intelligence Agency.

When US President George W. Bush and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry competed fiercely for the US presidency, Americans were surprised to find that although the two presidential candidates came from different parties and had different political views and programs, they both kept an amazing secret. They are all members of skull and bones. Kerry 1965 joined the club, and Bush entered skull and bones two years later. Mysterious skulls and bones began to surface.

William Huntington Russell is a graduate of Yale University 1833. He later became a member of the Connecticut legislature and a general of the State National Guard. During his stay in Germany, Russell met the leader of a secret society in Germany called "skull and bones". This club is a devil-like creature organized by a notorious prophet in Europe in the18th century, but its purpose, membership spirit, strict membership conditions and organization methods left a deep impression on Russell. 1832, Russell returned to Yale University, and he decided to establish a more ritualized and secretive club, which advocated the purpose of unity and mutual assistance. Then Russell gathered alphonso taft, the most promising classmate in his class (alphonso taft later became the Secretary of Defense, the Minister of Justice, the Australian Ambassador and the Russian Ambassador, and his son william taft later became the 27th President of the United States, who was a member of Class 1887), and formally founded the American version of "skull and bones". After 170 years of self-reproduction, the cabinet, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the Central Intelligence Agency and other departments all control the most powerful "invisible empire". In skull and bones, each member has his own nickname. For example, "Mo Long" stands for the highest-ranking member of the association, and "Magog" stands for the most experienced member of the association. George H.W. Bush enjoys the "reputation" of Magog. As for George W. Bush, because when he joined the club, other members didn't know what to call him, so they simply nicknamed him "Temporary". Yale University implements the "residential college" system similar to Oxford University and Cambridge University. Freshmen are randomly assigned to Yale University 12 residential college. Except for a few special circumstances, all students will live in the college for four years (freshmen and sophomores must live in dormitories). Every student who lives on campus feels as comfortable as at home, has many good friends and lives happily, which makes their years of study and life at Yale very different. As a student named Tori said, "I have formed an unprecedented close friendship with people here, which has made my four-year college life more beautiful and happy." I think I will be good friends with them for life. "Each college has its own complete and advanced facilities and different styles, including dining room, library, gym, art studio, piano room, camera darkroom, computer room, laundry room, billiards and table tennis room and student kitchen. Most colleges also have their own movie theaters or theaters, rock climbing rooms, squash courts and saunas, which are open to our college students 24 hours a day. Yale's dormitory college (that is, everyone's dormitory) is the center of undergraduate social circle and the most attractive part of undergraduate education. The dormitory college system initiated by Yale alumnus Edward S. Harkness, imitating the Cambridge and Oxford systems, divides undergraduates into 65,438+02 independent dormitories, with about 450 students in each dormitory, providing students with a closer study and living community, enabling them to have a small environment in the dormitory area and enjoy the huge resources of research universities. Each college has a master and a dean, who are responsible for students' social activities and study life respectively. Every week, the dean of each hospital will also invite celebrities from various fields to hold a tea party called "Master Tea", which is open to all undergraduates. Many famous people have been invited in politics, business, sports, entertainment, social welfare and other fields in the United States and the world.

Peter Salovey, the current president of Yale University, summarized the key points of the school's development in the future 100 as follows: "First, as one of the best research universities in the United States, Yale University attaches great importance to the quality of undergraduate education. Secondly, graduate schools and professional colleges, together with Yale College, are committed to cultivating leaders and celebrities in all fields of the world. " Yale University sponsored 35 school-level sports teams to participate in the Ivy League, the Eastern University Sports League and the New England Inter-school Sailing League. Yale University is also a first-class member of NCAA. Like other Ivy League universities, Yale does not provide scholarships for athletes, and it is no longer the top team in basketball and American football. However, Yale University is the birthplace of American football, which was borrowed from rugby and football by Walter Camp, then a player and coach, at the end of/kloc-0 and the beginning of the 20th century. Yale has a large number of sports facilities, including Yale Stadium (also known as "Yale Bowl" because of its appearance, and the first stadium of this shape in the United States), Walter Camp Field Sports Center, Payne Whitney Sports/Fitness Center and Corinthian Yacht Club (built at 188 1, which is the first university yacht club in the world and has trained many Olympic athletes).

The mascot of Yale University is a bulldog named Shuaidan. As a fierce hound, it represents the sports spirit of the school. Shuai Dan usually appears in major sports competitions, especially the famous "Yale-Harvard Ball Match" every year. Many songs played in Yale University sports competitions include "Bulldog, Bulldog, bow wow Wow!" Lyrics of. After Shuaidan's death, the school will make it into a specimen, display it in Payne Whitney Stadium and other places, and then select brave bulldogs nationwide to succeed him. It was successful on April 26th, 2005.

Yale University also has a brass ceremonial band to support Yale athletes. This band performs in all domestic American football games and many other games.

The amateur sports league between Yale College 12 residential college is an important part of students' life and many long-standing college disputes (friendly competitive relations). * * * Every year is divided into three seasons: autumn, winter and spring, and each season includes more than ten kinds of events, all of which are probably mixed. Besides formal events, sports also include bowling and billiards. At the end of each academic year, the college with the highest score will be awarded the Tyng Cup. As President richard levin said: "Educating people to serve the society does not mean that education must focus on mastering practical skills. Yale pursues to provide students with a broad and free educational world outlook, rather than narrow and restrictive vocational education, so that they have more leadership and service consciousness. Yale University is also a community that respects and learns from each other and cherishes the free expression and exploration of everything in the world. In this community, people's interaction mode also serves the society. "