Great Expectations, Great Places

A friend who studied at Oxford last Spring told me that it would be best to approach my experience here without any particular expectations. I confess I wasn't quite sure how to do that, since it seemed that I couldn't avoid having expectations on some subliminal level. So, rather than try to avoid all expectations, I decided to channel them into the one which I could rely on: that I expect to invest my most excellent efforts and abilities in learning as much as I can through my experiences and opportunities here - whatever those turn out to be like. If this expectation is unmet, there is none but myself to blame.

During orientation week told us all sorts of things to expect. Perhaps their most emphasized point was that, unlike typical Great Books programs in America, the Oxford way of working is that of the professional academic: Use tons of secondary sources in your essays! They highly value the academic community, and view undergraduate students as junior members of it. Therefore, we must dialog with other scholars in our writing, and understand the context of our own ideas within the broader academic discussion.

As I've anticipated working in this way, I've thought a lot about the benefit of scholarly community, and the fact that scholarship can only be advanced by the efforts of multiple people. It is simply impossible for one person to research or muse upon the whole vast array of topics within a given field of study. If I am researching the life of merchants in the colonial era, for instance, I don't have time to sift through endless records and bits of evidence in search of information relevant to my historical query. Hence, we have archaeologists, paleographers, archivists, and librarians. A philosopher or textual critic, bright as he or she may be, still must have his or her ideas challenged and strengthened through dialog with others.

On the other hand, there is great benefit to doing one's own work, particularly in the area of great literature, and in educational situations. There is no point in dialogging with other scholars if I cannot comprehend books well on my own and form good opinions about them. This would be like joining a choir before I knew how to sing on pitch. It is important that students learn to wrestle through hard texts and challenging questions on their own, and consequently develop skill sets that will benefit them throughout their lives.

All this is to say, that there is great importance to both primary and secondary source based learning, and both must be incorporated into our educational methods.

Yesterday morning, I went to my first meeting with my Shakespeare tutor at Regent's Park College. My tutor is a lot how I would expect an Oxford tutor to be like - not too tall, perhaps in his 50's or 60's, balding just a bit. He had volumes of Shakespeare on his shelf, piles of paper on his desk, and a cup of tea in his hand. I could tell he must be very busy, because he seemed to have a lot on his mind. Shortly into our meeting, he said, "We're going to do this tutorial the Oxford way, which would probably seem utterly sacreligious to your teachers at home, and that is, that we will not use secondary sources!" (the italics are to indicate that he said this very emphatically.) I was rather surprised, and greatly humored. This was certainly not what I'd expected to hear. He wants to receive an essay each week consisting purely of my ideas on Shakespeare. He will recommend some good literary critics, of course, but not until I've produced an entirely original essay.

I am quite content with this method of studying Shakespeare because I think it is a good way to study great texts. However, I am considering the idea of asking him if I can write a few extra essays in which I place my own argument in the context of other scholars' work. Asking for more assignments seems like a rather crazy idea, but while I am here in Oxford with one of the world's greatest libraries at my fingertips, I fully expect to use it.

Orientation Week

This week we have an extensive orientation for our term here in Oxford. It's nice to have some laid-back time to settle in at Oxford, but it's also rather difficult having no work to do yet...odd as that sounds. I have the feeling that I am in the calm before the storm, and unable to do anything yet to prepare for the storm. Orientation has run from 9am to past 4pm each day this week, and seeing as it is orientation, it's a bit tedious, but on the whole, it isn't bad. There have been sessions on Oxford-style research and writing, what to do in the case of an emergency, what Oxford clubs we can get involved in, etc.

The most interesting part of orientation is that we have begun the History of Britain video series by historian Simon Schama. As I've forgotten practically all the British history I ever learned, it's a lot of fun to learn the story of this great Isle. Thus far, we have come to the point of William of Normandy's conquest against King Harold in the eleventh century. It really is a fascinating history, and I'm excited to fill in areas which have hitherto been gaps in my knowledge.

This evening I had dinner at Eagle and Child, the old pub where the Inklings used to meet. This was my second time to the Eagle and Child, and it's a good little taste of the culture here. The interior is rather snug and dimly lit, and they serve classic English foods like Steak & Ale pie and Fish & Chips.

A miscellaneous bit of information about life in England is that tomato paste comes not in cans as it does in America, but in tubes much like our toothpaste tubes. It is called "tomato puree." For this reason, I couldn't find it on my first trip to the grocery store when I went to buy spaghetti makings. My spaghetti definitely turned out a little runny... Thankfully, our junior dean likes to cook, so he was able to give me some good advice for my next trip to the grocery store.

Arriving in Oxford

I am finally here in Oxford, about to embark on what will undoubtedly be the biggest academic challenge of my life thus far. The more I think of all I will get to learn, the more excited I am to begin the term. But before I talk about the academics of Oxford, I'll give a brief update on my travels and arrival here.

Travels
On January 1st, I flew from California to London with my roommates Jen and Renee, and our roommate Julia joined us the day after our arrival. We had a day and a half to explore London, so we visited the city's parks, museums, and theater. We began our day on January 3rd by going to a morning communion service at St. Paul's Cathedral, which was just across the street from our hostel. We spent the rest of the morning making our way around the city by tube and foot. The gardens are not quite as lively as they will be in a few months, but still lovely. We concluded the day with a trip to the Queen's Theater to see Les Miserables live on stage, which is something I've wanted to do for a very long time. We were seated up on the very top balcony (we got tickets to suit our budgets), so we practically had bird's-eye view of the stage. It was a very wonderful production.

Arriving in Oxford
On the morning of the 4th, we left the hostel with all luggage in tow (containing 3.5 months worth of stuff), and hauled our bags to the tube station, off and on the various tube trains and stations - detours included - and a very long walk from the tube station to the bus stop. Finally, we got on the bus and headed for Oxford. Or next form of transportation was taxi, which we took to the house where we are living for the semester. We were met by the Junior Dean of the house (whose role is like that of a Resident Director or Resident Assistant), and promptly began moving in. Most of the girls from Biola live on the bottom floor of the house, so it is easy to get settled in to this new living place.

Academics at Oxford
Classes at Oxford are run differently than they are at most colleges in America. The main component of an Oxford term is the tutorial, in which students write as essay each week addressing a particular question within the scope of the tutorial, and then meet with a tutor to discuss and defend the arguments in their essay. The essays are required to give a thorough and critical answer to the question at hand, considering both historic and contemporary scholarship pertaining to question, but not merely summarizing what others have said about it. This process entails extensive research of primary and secondary sources, which students must analyze on several levels in order to incorporate into a well crafted argument. This pedagogical setup differs from schools in America in that students don't acquire information through lectures, but through their own research and thought. As the handbook puts it, "The tutorial is intended to be challenging, not formulaic, and your tutor is there to stimulate you to ask interesting questions, not to provide you with safe answers." Learning through research is facilitated by the expansive Bodleian Library, which houses more than 6 million pieces of writing, and grows by 3 miles of shelf space every year. I will be spending a good deal of time there this term...

As I anticipate this new course of study, I know that there are two different mindsets with which I could approach it, and I believe these mindsets are applicable to all new challenges we face. The first is that of fear and selfish ambition, and the second is that of faith and love. If I adopt the first approach, my self-centered fear of failure and desire for glory will drive me to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of my project, and I will despair of ever finding fulfillment in my striving after accomplishment. If I have learned anything in my lifetime, it is that I lose all joy in a task when my purpose in doing it is selfish. Having a focus of my own gain - whether it be accolades, accomplishments, or competence - obscures my vision of both myself and my task, making me unable to enjoy either. If greed is my motivation for action, I will never be satisfied, because greed continually grows. If, on the other hand, my mindset is one of faith and love, I will be able to pursue learning for the love of the material I am studying, and I will trust that God is using my efforts for His glory and to help me grow as He intends for me to. It is only in this case that I can delight in my work and apply myself to my studies with the humility and eagerness necessary to real learning.