World--renowned Yale University is the subject of this issue's installment in our series on Noted Universities Around the World. This school,which has several times been rated the number-one university in Americaby U.S. News and World Report and has produced countless outstanding alumni--including U.S. President Bush--boasts a glorious tradition and superb credentials, of course, but after detailing the glories of the pastand the glamour of the present, the article goes on to mention the critiques and concerns its students have of the status quo.
In her conclusion, senior editor Jackie Chen writes, "This seems to bethe gordian knot of why Yalies are unwilling to change: unless you can prove that the change will be even better, then why not maintain tradition?"
The question is, given an educational environment of intense competition, can Yale men and women, firmly rooted in tradition, pass the tests of our times? Maybe there is no answer to that today, but the answ er iswaiting on the morrow."
Is Yale University going to the dogs? Of course not. Are its students foolish Chicken Littles? The answer again is no. In fact, Yale's strength lies precisely in its foundation on constant introspection and self-crit icism, on the search for truth and on total freedom of expression.
The more dissatisfied an individual is, the less apt he or she is to be ignorant or decadent. And when the sounds of criticisms, arguments andeven mutual incriminations ring out in a society, it doesn't mean the times are going to hell in a handbasket. Instead, it is often a sign of agrowing ability to reflect and of greater freedom of speech, so that topics once taboo can be discussed openly, so that things that used to be accep ted out of ignorance or low standards are questioned, and so that the longingrained concepts and ways of thinking of some are put to the test. . . .
True it is. Concepts held out of long habit don't necessarily withstand close inspection.
True or False? In this issue's special feature, "Dillydallying on he Way to the Altar," the first test we applied was aimed at a statement we've all heard in one shape or form: In today's open society, there are more opportunities for men and women to interact.
Are there really more opportunities for modern-day men and women to interact? Dr. Chao Ning says clearly, "All it means is there are more chances of seeing a lot of people on the street you can nod and say hi t o. But there's still a big distance between us, it seems."
Not to mention the fact that work pressures have hindered the ability of people to pursue their emotional lives, specialization and the division of labor have produced an unequal distribution of men and women in two major areas of daily life--at home and on the job. You can see the tre nd in who majors in what in college. There are more women in big cities, where there are more service industries, and more men in industrialdistricts. Schoolteachers are almost all women . . . . The fences between the sexes may have broken down in theory, but in actual fact the wallsof time and space are as high as ever.
The second test was aimed at the "right age to get married" that people talk about: The "right age to get married" has increased as people stay longer in school; there are more women of "marriageable age" than men; you've reached the "right age to get married," so why aren't you married yet . . .
You can hear people say things like that all the time. But even thoughpeople may communicate with one another in the same words, the various figures that various surveys have found show that the thoughts in their minds are quite different.
More Than Just Architecture: This issue's cover story, "Eighty Years of Architecture in Taiwan" is another article with a strong sense of timeto it. It features a host of pictures to let readers directly and visually experience the architectural landmarks we have left behind during the fi rst 80 years of the Republic of China, and it goes on to provide them with comprehensive food for thought on eight decades of economic development as seen from the changes in architectural style over the years,the refine ment of techniques, the influence of Western culture, and the shift from stressing hardware to trying to infuse architecture with humanistic contents . . . .
[Picture Caption]
Staff writer Ventine Tsai talks with the statistician Chai Sung-lin about the reasons for the rising unmarried rate. (photo by Huang Lili)
