OLAF VISITS OXFORD (continue...)

While we were talking a man in a cap and gown walked past and said "Good afternoon" to us. As he walked away I said; "I think he is not an undergraduate."

John; No, that is my tutor.

Olaf: What is a tutor?

John: The tutorial system is one of the ways in which Oxford and Cambridge differ from all the other English universities. Every student has a tutor and as soon as you come to Oxford one of the first things you have to do is to go and see your tutor. He, more or less, plans your work, gives you a list of books you must read and sets work for you to do (which you must do), for example an essay to write. Each week you go to see him, perhaps with two or three other students and he discusses with you the work that you did last week, criticizes in detail your essay and sets you the next week's work.

(After C.E.Eckersley)