IP: Beware the Yikes of March

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 01:42:00 -0500
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
> Subject: Beware the Yikes of March
>
> January 29, 2002
>
> THE BIG CITY
>
> Beware the Yikes of March
>
> JOHN TIERNEY
>
> IT was not officially exam period at New York University, but Prof.
> Anders Henriksson was busy yesterday giving a history test at a
> campus deli. He was expecting the worst.
>
> Dr. Henriksson, a professor of history at Shepherd College in West
> Virginia, is the compiler of "Non Campus Mentis" (Workman
> Publishing), which is a history of the world taken verbatim from term
> papers and exams at American and Canadian colleges. In this chronicle
> from the Stoned Age to the Berlin Mall, Judyism is a monolithic
> religion with the god Yahoo. Gothic cathedrals are supported by
> flying buttocks. Hitler terrorizes enemies with his Gespacho. Caesar
> is assassinated on the Yikes of March and declares, "Me too, Brutus!"
>
> How widespread is this ignorance? Dr. Henriksson demonstrated by
> giving a 27- question quiz, with 16 needed to get a passing grade
> (roughly 60 percent):
>
> In one sentence or less, identify Winston Churchill, Otto von
> Bismarck, Mohandas Gandhi, Nikita Khrushchev, Benito Mussolini,
> Sigmund Freud, Florence Nightingale and Adam Smith. In what countries
> are Warsaw, Caracas, Antwerp, Shanghai, Lagos and Pearl Harbor?
>
> ...
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/29/nyregion/29BIG.html

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