Greeting the New Students

I volunteered to greet the new BA students in the name of the faculty. Many were women, which is not surprising in a class of library students. There were perhaps 50 or 60 all totaled. Not all were young. In fact, they looked very much like a class of students that one might see in any US college, except that they were overwhelmingly white and middle class, so perhaps really more like any 1950 US college. They were definitely not 1950s students, though. No suits or dresses or sense of formality. I did get them to giggle a few times, but never succeeded in making them talk.

I told the story about the official tite on Antony Hopwood's business card at Oxford: “ordinary student”. And I used it to make the point that we are all students. I also encouraged them to learn from each other as much as from the faculty. I'm not sure they believed that, however.

At the end I allowed a long silence, which often gets someone to talk since crowds hate silence. I also plied them with earnest looks in the best theatrical style. One young woman in the front row moved her hand as if about to speak, but when I called on her she blushed prettily and shook her head.

German students simply are not accustomed to speaking in class. But perhaps if we can get them started talking young...