Word: absurd
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Dates: during 1880-1889
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...elaborately fanciful tales of student life which are floating around in the papers. Yale happens to be the victim this time. Harvard's turn will come next; in fact, it is always Harvard's turn. Well known colleges are like public men; no story about them is so wildly absurd, that some journals will not print it, and many people believe it. And the bigger the lie is, the more eagerly it is spread...
...right. Why then is this unfavorable opinion? It is simply because the rank grass has overtopped good, the tares grown over the wheat. Judged by such a standard as this verdict would necessitate, we would all be athletes, dudes, and writers of sentimental pessimistic verse. This, of course, is absurd. Let us then be judged with fairness if not leniently. We are gentlemen, and our actions prove it. Nor because we sign a prayer petition can we be justly called a "pack of boys," as one New York paper styles us, or a "set of indifferent, dissolute young...
...that it was the earnest desire of the alumni to have the name of Yale College changed to Yale University. I do not know what men studying at Harvard will think of these remarks - I am rather inclined to believe they will not give them much weight. It seems absurd to call Yale a University, and then asking that optional studies may be altogether discontinued. Yale needs more elective studies, so as to give every man an opportunity to improve himself in a manner which he deems wisest. I believe a man entering college is capable to make his choice...
...rank, under the elective system; for such an estimate of individual proficiency assumes, first, the absolute equality of studies different in kind, and then, as a natural consequence, the infallibility of per cents as a common measure of knowledge of these different studies. Both these assumptions are so plainly absurd and inconsistent with our theory of education, and the unjust character of their actual operation is so well known, that I will not stop here to prove the inadequacy of our present system of marking and ranking. But the very absurdity of the system will serve to point...
...seen the beautiful and expensive experiments in freshman chemistry, the thought would seem absurd that the authorities could possibly fail to vote sufficient appropriations for the scientific departments of the university. Yet the appropriation for carrying on work in the physical laboratory is unreasonably inadequate to the demand made on it. Although we possess one of the finest physical laboratories in the world, the appropriation this year for carrying on the work was only a few hundred dollars. In the study of physics delicate and accurate instruments are absolutely necessary. Many instruments in the laboratory are in so wretched...