after all , these were the arts , not biology nor computer science nor math nor physics nor chemistry nor economics nor even history , and they were open to multiple interpretations and we all knew that the only interpretation that really mattered was the professors because they were the ones marking our exams or papers and turning them around and telling us how intelligent we were and few people in the history of the world ever had more ego than the pretentious academic and they loved nothing more than to have it stroked gently and thoroughly .