I am reminded of a day, many years ago (1967), in a galaxy far far away
(Evanston, Illinois) when I took a course in American Diplomatic History
from Professor Richard Leopold. Professor Leopold was the advisor to the
Navy ROTC unit. Professor Leopold met the class with great formality, in a
room with wood paneling and oriental carpet and portrait of dead white men
hanging on the walls.

Professor Leopold rank ordered each of the 25 students in the class every
day in terms of their performance that day. In addition, he rank ordered
the exam performance for each student.

There was a young radical upstart in the class named Peter, who was quite
taken with revisionist theory, a position not popular at that time and
place. Peter regularly irked the good professor with new theories of, for
example, the diplomacy surrounding the Mexican-American War (as a metaphor
for the Vietnam War).

Peter tells this story: When he got his midterm exam back, Peter noticed
that he received the rank 24/25 (one being the highest rank, 25 the
lowest).

He went to Mr. Leopold's office hours and inquired, "Tell me, Mr. Leopold,
exactly how did you decide between 24 and 25?"

To which Mr. Leopold is said, by Peter, to have responded, "Well, Peter,
number 25 fainted during the exam".

Darwinian world I tell you.