Group II provides an eclectic and diverse education

DANICA NOVGORODOFF/YH

History and history of art, two of the University's oldest and most popular departments, are home to some of the most highly respected scholars in their fields: Professor Jonathan Spence, SY '61, GRD '65, is regarded as a world-class authority on modern Chinese history, and Professor John Gaddis served as the chief advisor for CNN's popular Cold War documentary series. Sterling Professor Emeritus of History of Art Vincent Scully, JE '40, GRD '49, has long been considered one of the world's premier professors of architecture. The fine arts are also duly represented, as theater studies and art students are blessed with extended exposure to talented professors, many of whom have professional experience.

Additionally, Group II offers a chance to escape from the Western canon, something you might not be able to appreciate until you've suffered through a term of English 125, 129, or (God forbid) Directed Studies. Almost all of the cultural studies courses offered at Yale fall under the Group II heading, including classes on African-American, Asian-American, Latin American, Native American, and Pacific-American culture. For a few brief minutes, you might actually be able to forget that all of the buildings on campus are named after long-dead white men.

Yale may be stodgy, but Group II is where irreverence thrives. Where else could you find classes on suburbia, alcohol, gangs, apocalyptic religion, the mambo, Martin Scorsese, contemporary pop music, and generally deviant behavior (all of which were topics offered last year), in one distributional group?

You are a Yale student; if you're not over-educated already, you will be very soon. Isn't it more practical to learn about culturally relevant topics (i.e., things you could talk about at a cocktail party to make people think you're really witty and intelligent), instead of obsolete, obscure topics that interest only hardcore academics (i.e., things you could talk about at a cocktail party to make people think you're a really big geek)? Group II courses help you understand the world as it is by teaching you about the roots of contemporary culture and then encouraging you to create new interpretations of them.

—Ann Ritter

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