Hirst: Different yet same
Today’s Yale students come from more places — and from farther away — than any previous generation of Yalies. But more of us share a common culture, often called popular culture, than ever before. These dual phenomena create a Yale class that is at once more diverse and more the same.
Consider the traditional purpose of a Yale education: The production of a Yale Man has always been a man of decency, honesty, principle, intellect; he was balanced in the art and sciences; he was open to all arguments yet unafraid to reject specious falsehoods.
He took Yale’s academic rigors...
