I love that as I get ready to write up my syllabi for this coming fall semester, perhaps a wee bit wistful of my fabulous summer coming to an end, I am reading about a time in the early 20th century when teaching college students was a lot more stressful. And that’s where the great “Conical Rebellions” of 1925 and 1930 come into this discussion.
Yale University was pushing some new technology in those years — the blackboard. Up until 1925, math students had been allowed to use their books to write up answers to their exams. But with the chalkboard’s new arrival, students were suddenly expected to do their work without recourse to open notes. And they rebelled, on two occasions now referred to as the “Great Conical Rebellions”.
Turns out doing non-Euclidian geometry (thusly all the cones shown here) — sans reference — was unpopular. But when students in 1925 refused to take their exams, they were forced to sign an apology. Things got more out of line in 1930 when the same thing happened — in that year, 44 students were actually expelled because they refused to take their geometry exams without using their books
All this certainly makes my job teaching Medieval history next semester seem a lot easier.
Sources: Photo Abraham Rees, d1825 wikicommons. @Cambridgemaths.org, “Degenerates: The conic sections rebellion,” Lucy Rycroft-Smith, 16 Nov, 2018, Photo Abraham Rees, d1825 wikicommons. @Cambridgemaths.org, “Degenerates: The conic sections rebellion,” Lucy Rycroft-Smith, 16 Nov, 2018
