Monday, November 15

It’s a bit warmer this morning and I encourage the students to take off their heavy jumpers and jackets.  They look at me as if I am mad.  Can’t I see that the effect of the ensemble would be ruined if the centrepiece was deleted?  The first thing I would do if it were hot would be to remove my cap but I’m just an old fogey who has no idea.

 

Anyway, we have a stock of bottles of water if anyone looks like expiring.

 

Twenty-five students doing Economics!  I’m in Room 218 for the third time.  It’s set up for 36 so we have a bit of spare space, though we’re probably exceeding Covid requirements anyway.  Apparently we can relax the rules a little and the Premier tells us the borders will be opened on December 15 – only a month away.

 

My offsider has decided that I will read out the instructions and make the announcements and she will keep track of the times.

 

The students have three booklets with several questions in each.  After 10 minutes, one girl puts up her hand to say she has run out of room for the answer to Question 1.  We supply her with a supplementary booklet.  I notice her focus and how she writes furiously; one to watch maybe.

 

This morning, as we arrived, we were asked what we would like to be famous for.  I was not allowed to be honest and say that being famous would be my worst nightmare so I mumble ‘writing a novel’.  My offsider says she would like to be a famous golfer.  Each to his or her own, I suppose.

 

One of the first things we have to do before each exam is to check the students’ IDs, to see that they are in the right place.  There was one fellow yesterday who sat in the wrong seat and began to complete the paper using someone else’s ID stickers.  I’m always interested when I see common Tasmanian names like Cresswell, Archer or Field but, more and more, we see the results of our immigration policy.  In normal times we would see a number of FFPOSs (Full Fee-Paying Overseas Students) but Covid has slowed that program right down.  Launceston College works hard to attract students from overseas and has even designated one of the rooms on this level as the Overseas Students’ Lounge – local riff-raff not admitted.

 

Even without that program, at least 30% of the students in this group have non-Anglo names.  Once upon a time, Tasmania had the reputation of being a little Anglo-Saxon outpost in the South Seas, but no longer.

 

By 10 o’clock, one over-dressed individual is forced to remove his Tommy Hilfiger jacket but he perseveres with his cap.  It, too, has a logo but it’s too small for me to read.

 

Its’s now pretty close to finishing time and no-one has left early.  It’s an interesting group – no absentees, everyone is very focused and only a few take a toilet break.  Let’s hope they all go on to Uni, and become public servants in the Treasury Department, but it’s more likely they will all be aiming to make their first million before they’re thirty.