Mr. Shangkong | What’s so special about ‘Yale kids’?

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File photo of the Branford College courtyard at Yale University. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 10:38am, 18 Sep 2014Updated: 7:13pm, 25 Sep 2014

Since I began my life and studies at Yale University, one question I have frequently been asked by friends in China is: what’s so special about Yale?

It’s a big question and someone could probably write a doctoral paper on this topic or the wider subject of the education system in the United States. In this column, and perhaps also in upcoming columns, I will try to explain, from my personal experience, what is special about Yale. I also want to discuss what is special about “Yale kids”. After all, in my view, no university can possibly be a good one without talented students who demonstrate their potential to be future world leaders in different fields.

As a Yale World Fellow, I have been assigned four students to assist me in different aspects of my work and study at Yale University. One of them, Justin Schuster, is an undergraduate student at Branford College, one of the 12 residential colleges at Yale. Justin is a big fan of international relations with focus on Middle East studies. I know he is a big fan of international relations, not just because that is his major, but also because of the way he thinks and talks about the world – even on an ordinary afternoon when we have a cup of coffee together – rather than in a professional seminar with world leaders, seriously pondering the challenges we face west and east.

After Justin got into Yale, he quickly managed to become involved in student organisations that share, more or less, the same interests and ambitions he has. One of those organisations is The Politic, a Yale undegraduate political science magazine established in the 1940s. Fareed Zakaria, now a leading CNN anchor and reporter on global affairs, was once one of the editors. My friend Justin was appointed the magazine’s chief editor, a position he turned into a great platform to allow him, his colleagues and classmates to travel the world, interviewing more than 100 US ambassadors in different countries. I once joked with him that he had probably travelled to more places in the world than most US diplomats can do these days.

Given Justin’s invaluable hands-on experience in global affairs – even though he is so far an undergraduate with one more semester to finish before he can get his first degree – I don’t think he will have much trouble finding a nice job in what is a highly competitive market worldwide these days.

Justin is not alone. At Yale, I met many young and talented students who wear different hats instead of simply being a Yale student. I think that’s how they make themselves stand out, and this may also explain why those “Yale kids” are so special. By age, they may be called “kids”. By academic knowledge and global experience, they can in some cases probably beat many of us who are now in our 30s or 40s. Don’t look down on those “Yale kids”. Some have already become US president or secretary of state – and soon perhaps we will have another “Yale kid” as the first woman president of the United States.

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.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Mr. Shangkong | What’s so special about ‘Yale kids’?

Mr. Shangkong | What’s so special about ‘Yale kids’?