Social works

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear. --Lewis Carroll

Every Thursday all the students participate in social works, which consists of cleaning up the campus grounds.  Christmas decorations were still up when I arrived and so they have come down.  A fire break is to be dug to prevent the fires which come between winter and the rainy season.  If there is no break, the fires can run up the hillside onto the campus, into people’s gardens.  The students pick up trash (of which there is barely any; there are little garbage cans everywhere which say “keep ATC clean”) and sweep the streets with what passes for brooms here. They go into the wooded areas and clear away the brush.  I have seen them with wagons full of large, sawed pieces of log.  All the classrooms and faculty offices are swept and cleaned.

It's a very nice idea.  Not only do the students become responsible for their environment, they get some guaranteed time outdoors and time away from study.  They also have the opportunity to bond in different groups beside their class groups.  Students at the Bachelors level take all their classes with their grade level and are together in the same room all day long.

One of the main tasks is keeping the leaves off the streets.  For this task they use brooms like the one I use in my house, i.e., short.  Most of the people here are shorter than in the U.S., but there are a few fellows who are 6 feet tall.  Remember, the broom is 3 feet tall.  They clean the leaves out of graveled areas as well as the paved areas, but those brooms are just the stems of the grass, without the fluffy end.  And the leaves are endless, as the road is lined with many trees which are consistently shedding.  There are also other campus workers who remove leaves at other times during the week.

Being a good and moral citizen is emphasized as part of the degree program.  The other morning, as part of announcements, everyone was reminded to shut off the lights to their classrooms when leaving for lunch.  On Sunday evening, everyone was reminded to attend all the services in the chapel and on Monday morning, there was a surprise attendance call.  The masters students tend to be the most lax in attendance.  I don't know if there is any penalty for absence, aside from the shame of being outed as a bad citizen in front of the entire College.