Unicycle novice, 1960s

Universities are sometimes accused of turning out students on assembly lines. At MIT, a more appropriate metaphor is provided by the unicycle. Accomplishment depends on individual effort and dexterity. And professors have observed an increasing penchant for educational risk-taking--for choosing difficult challenges rather than the easy, prosaic way.

Francis E. Wylie, MIT in Perspective (Little, Brown & Company, 1975)