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We did not swim nude

Reader comment on item: Harvard's Worst Class Ever

Submitted by Jonathan E Burack (United States), May 10, 2021 at 21:03

I sympathize with every word of this. I was class of "64 at Adams House. House Master (yes, we so called him proudly) Rueben Brower was also my freshman literature professor and I learned from him an appreciation of close reading that has stood me in good stead producing history curriculum materials for schools for decades now. Oscar Handlin and Bernard Bailyn were crucial for me. I fear I did not make as good use of the place as I might have. But I thank God I went there before the pathetic unraveling that soon consumed the place. I recall at our dinner table was a young economic guy named Donald McCloskey, whom we all considered the smartest guy in the House.. He is now she -- Deirdre McCloskey, but her much more significant change was from Marxist number crunching to soft-hearted libertarian celebrator of the free market driven Great Enrichment of the past three centuries.

I fear that Harvard no longer nurtures the ground from which the seeds of this kind of maturation can over time sprout and grow.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

Nude co-ed swimming only began when women moved into Adams House. If memory serves, that was in 1970.

Reader comments (10) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Class. [57 words]Albert E.Jun 8, 2021 15:52268022
education & Anthony Sutton [40 words]MagdaMay 12, 2021 04:34266838
5Look at our kids [449 words]JeffMay 11, 2021 23:57266829
Surviving The Impracticalities of Defective Educational Processes [312 words]M ToveyMay 11, 2021 12:47266808
1Bravo! [22 words]Lisa SchiffrenMay 11, 2021 08:06266800
4Columbia 7 years earlier [364 words]Lorenz GudeMay 11, 2021 02:04266792
Upvote [12 words]John in MichiganMay 10, 2021 21:18266781
7Causes and institutions go astray, inevitably [346 words]DaveMay 10, 2021 21:15266780
absurdity [10 words]sfMay 10, 2021 21:12266779
2We did not swim nude [180 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Jonathan E BurackMay 10, 2021 21:03266777

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