Word: absurdity
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...have been kept up throughout the year, unless it proved too complicated. One set of themes was thus distributed, and no more. That was all. No word of explanation was offered in regard to the sudden change. Now, there is no doubt that most of the criticisms were absurd and severe, and probably did neither the writer nor the men of whose work it was written any good; but the ideas obtained from reading the work of others was of inestimable value. No matter how careful and thorough in his criticisms the instructor is, no matter how painstaking the student...
...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...