Tutorials

Since I've received quite a few comments/complaints/death threats regarding the fact that I never seem to post anything, and seeing as it's a Sunday night and I really don't feel like working, I figured I'd outline exactly how the school system works here. I'm five weeks into term at this point, so I think I've got a pretty good handle on it.

Basically, Oxford, like Cambridge, works according to the "tutorial system" of education, meaning that, instead of lectures, students attend meetings called "tutorials" once or twice a week. Each tutorial consists of a student or small group of students sitting down for about an hour or so and discussing a topic of the week with a faculty member or grad student known as (prepare for the shock) a "tutor" (they like to keep things simple over here - it's not like these people are smart or anything). Prior to the tutorial, the student (I'll keep it singular since that's been my experience so far) has spent the previous week slaving in the library for hours a day, poring through research material, and constructing a carefully crafted, 2000-word essay that argues a thesis related to the assigned topic. At least that's how it works in theory. I've devolved to the point where I wait until three days before my tutorial, then read two essays and a poem and write the entire essay the day before, maybe leaving time to proofread it.

The results of the latter approach have been rather mixed. The first essay I wrote for a tutorial on Wordsworth yielded quite favorable comments, but that ended up being my best one of the semester thus far. Last week, my tutor, a great guy whose judgment I wholeheartedly trust, wrote on my essay:

"Some good attention to the structure, but this is mostly mental bombast - Next week I'm calling time on all 1) eternal human verities, 2) tropes of self-realisation, 3) personal/value-judgments of verse ('beautiful yet fearful,' 'selfish,' 'puerile'). You've captured the Oxford Style and we need to replace it with something meaner and more academic.
But all's not lost. You do well to note the parallels of Milton and did well to read and think about Mill. Still, next week you are not allowed to gather ANYTHING onto the edifices of eternality."

Apparently I tried to glean too deep a spiritual truth from the poem I was reading. I think that's the case, anyway...he probably could have been more explicit.

My point is that it can be hit or miss on the essays if you're like me and tend to only write papers under the kind of pressure at which cold fusion is like baking a cake. Don't worry, though, I'm working on it.

In other news, next weekend, for anyone in the area (which I'm pretty sure is next to nobody, since one of the closest readers that I'm aware of lives in Spain), I'm in the Oxford University Gilbert & Sullivan Society's Michaelmas 2008 production of "The Pirates of Penzance." It's a fun romp, with memorable characters and some of the catchiest late-19th century semi-classical opera music ever written, in my opinion. It's not to be missed by anyone who happens to be in the area of the Magdalen Auditorium at 7:30 on November 20, 21 or 22, £7 Adults, £4 Concessions, email piratesofpenznace2008@googlemail.com to book tickets.

And now that I've filled my shameless plug quota for this entry, I'll leave you with this photo of a lovely sunset over Christ Church meadow, taken last week by yours truly. Until next time, cheers.