Campus Life - Letters from Oxford University Surviving tutorials By Wahei Aoyama	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
伝統の個別指導制度 大学の授業というと、大教室で行なわれる講義をイメージしがち。しかし、オックスフォード大学には、こうした講義のほかに、独自の個別指導制度があります。学生たちは、指導教授の研究室や自宅を訪れ、少人数で対話式の指導を受けます。今回は、何世紀もの間続いてきた、この個別指導制度を紹介します。

少人数で行なわれるオックスフォード大学の個人指導 (http://www.ccc.ox.ac.uk/ より)

The Oxbridge tutorial system is unique. Apart from daily lectures held in lecture halls, most of the teaching takes place through private lessons with an individual professor. Each week, students have two or three of these compulsory "tutes," which are held in a tutor's office or home (usually beside a warm fireplace in comfy seats).

Tutors require students to write an essay after reading a long list of assigned coursework and formulating their own answers to relevant issues. Then, they must defend their arguments against the don's questioning. This is a form of teaching known as the Socratic method, named after Socrates of Athens. He would use pedagogical inquisition to explain a philosophical argument, and this manner of teaching still remains today as an integral part of an Oxbridge education.

Tutes are nerve-wracking, for tutors can be merciless in a debate. On top of this, they are usually brilliant. Thus, trying to impress them in an academic discussion is a tough job. Tutorials usually consist of one or two students per tutor. They last around an hour, yet one hour can feel like an eternity when I'm alone with a professor and haven't understood the issues. If I can't answer a question, my tutor will wait until I think of a solution, often leaving the two of us in complete silence. Tutorials held one-on-one don't allow you to hide your ignorance, as no other student is there to intervene and solve a question you don't have an answer to.

This chance for dialogue leaves great responsibility on the shoulders of the students to be prepared for a tute. If students don't study and understand the material, they won't be able to answer the many questions that their tutors might fire at them. Without enough preparation, the students won't be able to participate in debate and fully learn from the tutorial.

Unfortunately, simply listening to lectures is never enough. They are only introductory or supplemental. I myself, as a law student, must first teach myself the law by reading piles of textbooks, articles and (most importantly) cases, and then bring this knowledge to the tute and expand on it through intensive discussion with my tutor.

Students elsewhere might not have a chance to debate with professors in an intimate setting. Luckily, students here are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and actively participate in the learning process. The Oxbridge tradition eschews a passive, lecture-dominated education, where students learn by dogmatically taking notes in an impersonal lecture hall. Instead, it champions interaction as an important method of education.

Tutorials can make students feel very inadequate when they haven't prepared. On the other hand, the intimate setting of a tute can foster personal friendships between students and top academics. I've become close to my three tutors, and during the tutes we often digress and chat about soccer or movies.

Oxbridge dons are known to be eccentric. One tutor of mine plays with a teddy bear and smokes a wooden pipe while explaining about law. Another don secretly sips gin in a coffee mug during tutorials. Some students suspect he's always drunk, yet it does not seem to hinder his quick intellect, and more often than not he will leave us dumbfounded by his sharp wit.

The tutorial has been around for hundreds of years, and I hope this tradition will remain with future students for centuries to come.

Shukan ST: Jan. 17, 2003

(C) All rights reserved