In "The Catcher in the Rye," Holden · Calfield declared, "My father wanted me to go to Yale, or Princeton, but I swore I wouldn't go to those Ivy League schools." ”
It is worth arguing that when Jerome · David ·Salinger wrote this famous novel in 1951, the Ivy League, which was born in 1954, had not yet been formed. So where does the term "Ivy League" come from in Caulfield's mouth?
01 The birth of the Ivy League
In 1935, the Associated Press published a story focusing on the feat of several private schools in the Northeast working together to create a sports league. According to the report, "a new alliance is quietly taking shape among the oldest universities in the East, including Brown University, which together form the core members of the eight alliances." ”
The alliance was born out of a shared passion for rugby at eight private universities in the Northeast, with roots dating back to the late 19th century, when deep social ties and traditions of athletic competition between these institutions gave rise to the idea of forming a league.
Source: CFL.ca
Fast forward to 1937, and the Herald Tribune in New York used the vibrancy of ivy on the wall as a metaphor for the vibrancy of the schools competing fiercely on the football field; In 1945, sports leaders from eight universities signed the first "Ivy League Agreement," which established the three cornerstones of academic integrity, fiscal transparency, and athletic fairness for the eight teams competing in American football.
1954 marked a major turning point in the Ivy League's history, as the agreement was expanded to cover all sports, formalizing the league's status and influence. In the same year, it is also regarded as the first year of the official establishment of the alliance. In 1956, when the rules for athletic competitions were established, the rules and regulations of the Ivy League schools were gradually improved, and representatives including principals, athletic directors, and administrators met regularly to discuss cross-school cooperation issues related to admissions policy, financial management, student aid, and administration.
Over the years, these institutions have not only been outstanding in the global academic field, but their profound sportsmanship has been passed down and carried forward by generations of students as a unique cultural gene, becoming an immortal and glorious chapter.
Although the term "Ivy League" was not coined until the 50s of the 20th century, the history of the league schools in it predates this name much earlier. In 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony decided to create a college named after a donor, John · Harvard, and Harvard University was born, becoming the first institution of higher education in the United States.
Source: Harvard University's official website
Several other schools were established after the 18th century:
Yale University
Founded in 1702 by a donor named Elihu · Yale, Yale University is the third-oldest university in United States;
University of Pennsylvania
The fourth oldest university is the University of Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1740 by Benjamin · Franklin, the founding father of the United States;
Princeton School
In 1746, the Princeton School of New Jersey was founded, initially simply as the College of New Jersey, but moved to Princeton in 1756 and renamed Princeton University in 1896;
Colombia University
This was followed by the University of Colombia, founded in 1754 under a royal charter issued by King George II of United Kingdom;
Brown University
Brown University was founded in 1764 and is located in Providence, Rhode Island;
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College, the smallest of the league's schools, was founded in 1769 in Hanover, New Hampshire, and received billions of dollars in endowments since its founding.
Cornell University
Finally, Cornell University was founded in 1865 and was the only Ivy League school established after the founding of the United States.
Although the Ivy League has become known as the world's top college league, there are many opinions about the origin of the name. Two of these are the most well-known:
01
One theory is that the name was coined in the 30s of the 20th century by Carswell · Adams, sports reporter for the New York Herald Tribune. Legend has it that he was assigned to cover the Colombia vs. Pennsylvania football game, and Adams complained to his boss about having to write about the old Ivy-covered universities, coining the term "Ivy League" in his article about the Colombia vs. Pennsylvania game.
02
Another theory is that the Ivy League takes its name from the athletic associations earlier known as the Four League, which included Colombia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale. In keeping with the scholarly tradition, the term "Four League" was written as "IV. League" in Roman numerals. When reading the English alphabet, "IV" has the same pronunciation as "Ivy", and gradually "IV" becomes "Ivy" and "Ivy League" becomes "Ivy League".
02 The diversity of the student body
For centuries, Ivy League students were almost exclusively white, wealthy, and male. By the start of World War II, fewer than 125 black students had earned degrees at Colombia, Pennsylvania, Cornell, Harvard, and Yale in total.
Until the 60s of the 20th century, undergraduate programs at many Ivy League schools were still open to men only. Cornell University is the only university in the league to have coeducational since its founding (1865), and Colombia University is the last university to do so (1983). Prior to coeducation, many Ivy League schools maintained extensive social ties with nearby Seven Sisters women's colleges (Barnard College, Smith College, Man Holyo College, Vassar College, Bryn Mawr College, Wellesley College, and Radcliffe College). Activities include weekend visits, dance parties and parties.
Part of the reason why the diversity of the student body has been slow is that Ivy League graduates have resisted it. In the mid-20th century, when many Ivy League schools began to seriously consider admitting female students, a Princeton alumnus vowed: "If Princeton were coeducational, my alma mater would be taken away and Princeton would be destroyed." ”
An alumnus of Yale University expressed the same sentiment in a letter to the alumni magazine: "Let's face it, gentlemen, as attractive as women are, if you are forced to deal with them every day, they will become a burden to you. Think of that poor student who has a fixed date and who wants to concentrate on learning the basic principles of thermodynamics, but who keeps trying to gossip about the stupid trifles that all women try to impose on men. ”
A Dartmouth alumnus expressed a similar thought in a 1970 letter to the College Board of Trustees: "For God's sake, for Dartmouth's sake, for everyone's sake, don't let those women in." ”
Source: mastersportal
While today's Ivy League schools admit both women and people of color, the overall demographics are still unbalanced. In addition, economic diversity remains an issue for Ivy League schools. According to a study by the Equal Opportunity Project, many Ivy League schools admit more students from the top 1 percent of family incomes than the bottom 60 percent of family incomes. Ivy League admissions processes take into account factors such as alumni children and athletics, so low-income students don't have much of an advantage.
As a result, the diversity of Ivy League schools still exists under the auspices of these admissions policies.
03 The Ivy League's Broad Reach
In the Impact Rankings published by United States News & World Report, Ivy League schools are consistently in the top ten. "Ivy League schools are considered the most popular institutions of higher education in the United States and around the world," the outlet said, mainly because of their rigorous admissions procedures, excellent academic performance, and high social prestige.
Seven of the Ivy League schools were founded before the United States War of Independence, and these seven universities were the main colleges in the northern and central colonies, and their early faculty and founding board members were mostly from other Ivy League schools, and the board members also included United Kingdom graduates from Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, and other universities. Cornell University, for example, provided Stanford University with its first president.
The Ivy League has had a significant impact on the establishment of other colleges and universities. These include the Southern public college movement, which flourished in the first quarter of the 19th century, when Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia each established their own flagship universities (earlier as their respective colleges).
Freedfolk School of Edisto Island, South Carolina
图源：Getty Images
In 1801, the first board of trustees of the University of South Carolina, composed mostly of Princeton alumni, appointed Brown University graduate Jonathan Maxcy as the school's first president, and Thomas Cooper, an Oxford alumnus and faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania, became the college's second president. In addition, the founder of the University of California came from Yale University, so the representative colors of the University of California are Yale Blue and California Gold.
In addition to their careers in colleges and universities, Ivy League graduates also hold key positions in politics. According to statistics, a total of 15 United States presidents have graduated from Ivy League schools.
An Ivy League education has also paid off for many students. According to multiple reports, the average Ivy League graduate earns more than $80,000 per year, while the average state college graduate earns just $58,000 per year.
Ivy League schools also have high graduation rates, with 95 percent of enrolled students earning a degree, which is significantly higher than the 81 percent of all four-year colleges and universities in the United States.
Because of the achievements in higher education, many people believe that an Ivy League education is a guarantee of success in the workplace. A recent survey found that nearly one-third of hiring managers prefer to hire only candidates who have graduated from elite universities. But that doesn't mean that attending an Ivy League school is the only way to success. Ivy League schools dominated higher education during the colonial era, in part because there were few other options at the time. But today, there is no shortage of institutions around the world that can compete with it. Despite the prestige of an Ivy League school, students don't need to be overly obsessed with competing for Ivy League opportunities to succeed in life.
epilogue
The Ivy League has become a shining jewel in the field of global education with its outstanding academic achievements, profound cultural heritage and unique sportsmanship. From the original rugby league to the current collection of top universities in the field of comprehensive education, the Ivy League has witnessed the development and changes of higher education in United States and even the world, attracting countless students who are thirsty for knowledge with its unique charm.
Of course, we should also be soberly aware that the Ivy League is excellent, but it is not the only measure of the quality of education. In today's increasingly globalized world, many excellent higher education institutions have emerged around the world, which also have excellent teaching standards and rich educational resources. Therefore, when choosing an educational path, students should rationally evaluate their own strength based on their own interests, abilities and career planning, and avoid blindly pursuing a specific brand or label.
After all, although the Ivy League schools are good, those who can be selected are still very rare.
bibliography
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[4]https://badgerherald.com/news/2003/03/03/origins-of-the-term/#.VCwVePldXGA
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