Cultural Houses At Yale

The Yale Herald has an interesting article, “What Does It Mean To Be Who You Are At Yale?” It is about the confused, confusing, and somewhat controversial nature and role of “cultural houses,” i.e., ethnic enclaves, at Yale.

As an aside with no discussion or analysis, the article mentions that “97 percent of white students return to Yale following their freshman year, while just over 85 percent of all minorities do…. Only about 80 percent of Native American students stay at Yale.”

It would be interesting to see how those figures correlate with comparative qualifications and admissions preferences.

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  1. Robert January 24, 2003 at 10:06 am | | Reply

    As a Yale alumnus, I think the posting by John reflects the ignorance of the college admissions process in general, and the admissions process at elite schools in particular.

    Nobody leaves Yale because they can’t hack it–the workload is extremely difficult for every single student, and the university’s philosophy is focused on the students working together to overcome the obstacles we collectively face–the result is a strong sense of community and family among the student body.

    The reason that “minorities” leave Yale (and in “minorities” we can include African-Americans, Native-Americans, southerners and Hispanics) is that that feel isolated and alone—essentially, and sadly, there are often too few individuals from a given social and cultural background for some students to find individuals with whom they share a common background. It is hard enough for a 17 year old student from the midwest or southwest or a major city to adapt to life in a small New England city, handle the challenges of the course-work and also make new friends, without the added burden of having no other students who share your world view and common experiences.

    There is no 1-1 ratio of qualifications–every student is superior in some aspect of academic ability. The “diversity” is strictly a matter of up-bringing and experience, and in that regard the student body is not nearly as diverse as it could be.

    The notion that minorities are less qualified is inherently racist. The notion that more qualified whites are regularly denied their rightful place in favor of these less qualified minorities is even more racist. Selective universities don’t fail students, and they don’t select students based on past achievement—they select students on the likelihood of future achievement, and the great benefit of admission is doled out accordingly.

    Jealousy and ignorance and greed are at the heart of the idea that students at top colleges are being denied places in favor of the “less qualified”—there are no students at Yale, Harvard, Princeton or Michigan who are less qualified than any other students–rather, there are only students who are less prepared to succeed as freshman–and the correlation is almost perfectly to wealth, not to skin color.

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