Word: exam
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When they called you to go streaking in the Yard, you were cleaning your bathroom--for the second time this week. You've spent more time watching Ricki Lake and "Can We Shop" than studying for tomorrow's Foreign Cultures exam. You've called everyone you met during Prefrosh, whether they came to Harvard or not, just to catch up. You've vacuumed. And now, with a week and a half until the ephemeral freedom of intersession, you've run out of things...
Gentlemen: I have, I must confess, serious doubts about the efficacy--or even the integrity--of the "classic" exam period editorial, "Beating the System," you reprinted recently. I almost suspect this so-called "Donald Carswell '50" of being rather one of Us--the Bad Guys--than one of you. If your readers have been following Mr. Carswell's advice for the last 11 years, then your readers have been going down the tubes. It is time to disillusion...
Artful equivocations are even worse; lynxeyed sly little rascals that we are, we see right through them. (Up to exam 40. Then our lynx eyes droop, and grading habits relax. Try to get on the bottom of the pile.) Again, it is not that AE's are vicious or ludicrous as such; but in quantity they become sheer madness. Or induce it. "The 20th century has never recovered from the effects of Marx and Freud" (V.G.); "but whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is difficult to say." (A.E.) Now one such might be droll enough...
...thing, there's tradition. Harvard has had exams after winter break since the 1920s, and as with many things around here, if it ain't broke, it won't be fixed. Harvard has been able to maintain its international stature and continue to draw top caliber students, even with exams after winter break. Who would turn down Harvard just because of its exam schedule? I certainly didn...
...could blame them? Their semester ends before break, and they have few teaching responsibilities during the reading and exam period. They essentially have free time to work on their research, travel, or spend time with their families from the end of December to the beginning of February. Of course, under the calendar systems of some other colleges, professors have similarly lengthy breaks and hold exams before break. The University of Delaware's school year begins and ends around the time Harvard's does and holds exams in December, yet its professors also have the month of January free from teaching...