The first rule I learned
when I started teaching in San Diego was: “We don't fraternise with
students”.
It made me upset because I
was used to fraternising – although I didn't know that was the name
for what I was used to. I used to go out for a beer with a group of
undergraduates in Sweden after a seminar. In Finland, my students
would be surprised and offended if I didn't go out for a beer with
them.
When I moved to Cambridge
I was expecting a very formal atmosphere, definitely no fraternising.
Instead, fraternising is the very spirit of Cambridge.
This is the Big
Fraternising Week, the first week of term. Yesterday, I fraternised
with the new masters students. True, we had to do some course
introduction first, but afterwards it was wine and snacks and high
decibels of fraternising. In these austerity times, the Faculty
apparently believes that drinks and mingle for a hundred students and
professors is a good investment
Today, I fraternised with
the new PhD students. Wine, snacks and laughter.
Tomorrow, I will
fraternise with new masters and PhD students in my College. It is
called matriculation. Not just wine and snacks, but a three-course
dinner, and afterwards a ceremony with a drinking horn.
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