Gaudy Night

Dr Richard Brougham, a philosopher at San Antonio College, has been giving me pointers about the philosophy of science for my fall freshman seminar, Systems of the World. One of the philosophers Dr B put me wise to is Susan Haack at the University of Miami. Her article on preposterism in the Skeptical Inquirer made me an immediate fan; her thoughtful review of Dorothy Sayers Gaudy Night has got me reading old mysteries again:

"Why do they send these people here? Making themselves miserable and taking up the place of people who would  enjoy Oxford? We  haven’t got room for women who aren’t and never will be scholars. It’s all right for the men’s colleges to have hearty passmen who gambol round and game in Prep. Schools. But this dreary little devil isn’t even hearty. She’s a wet mess."

"I know," said the Dean, impatiently. "But schoolmistresses and parents are such jugginses. We do our best, but we can’t always weed out their mistakes."

–Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night

Of course, that was 70 years ago, in far-off Oxford. We’re modern, and in Texas (search for "Graduation Rate").