I know I wasn’t the only one to like this recent piece in the NYT on the ending of the one-word entrance exam at All Souls’ College, Oxford, because several friends emailed the link to me. If you haven’t seen it, for many years the College gave would-be scholars one word and gave them three hours to write something profound. I am still scarred from writing (and later, marking) undergraduate essay exams where three hours of writing produced very little of substance.
Having just finished a three week ethics course, I was intrigued by this question from another All Souls exam which asks prospective scholars, “Does the moral character of an orgy change when the participants wear Nazi uniforms?” I’ve put that question to several of my fellow chaplains who took the ethics course with me, and I’m still waiting for a good answer. Any one out there got any thoughts? I’m thinking that the question, if put to Quentin Tarantino, could at least lead to another movie.