Goodbye Mr Chips? No Sir, It’s About Love

When I was thinking about this week’s blog, for some reason I conflated in my mind two different films. I was thinking about ‘To Sir with Love’, and the 1967 film, but in my mind, I kept seeing it as ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’, a film first released in 1939, (although I saw the 2nd version released in 1969). They are both great films (and you can still get them on Amazon) but I wonder how many of this blog’s readers have seen either of them. If you have, you may well understand why I was thinking of them this week. But first, a question: Have you ever had a canary?

Up until last week I would have had to say no, but we agreed to look after one while our neighbours took a holiday. It arrived and I was given explicit instructions on how to care for it while they were away. I didn’t say anything, smiled and gently ushered them out of the house. Now having looked after Billy, an African Grey parrot for over 25 years, I felt I was probably fairly capable of looking after a little canary. However, what I didn’t factor in was Muffin.

Muffin is our cat. She is a fat cat, but an excellent mouser. She sleeps all day and goes out at night, come rain or shine, to do whatever cats at night choose to do. She loves Dylan our dog, is not remotely interested in the hens or goats and has never shown the slightest interest in Billy. One might even describe her as an aloof cat. Upon the arrival of the canary, all that changed.

I had put the said canary’s cage on our dining table. Usually this is somewhere completely ignored by Muffin. However just some ten minutes in, and there she was, on the table prowling around the poor canary’s cage. To the tiny canary, Fat Cat Muffin must have seemed terrifying. But fair play to the plucky bird, she just sat there chirping away and completely ignoring the cat. Over the week Muffin never gave up try to get to the canary. I was pleased that nothing happened and the canary was duly returned to her owners unharmed.

The cat made me think of my last PhD student. She completed her studies last week and is now a Doctor. When I first met her, some three and a bit years ago, she was like Muffin and I was like the canary. She had wanted me as her PhD supervisor and was not going to take no for an answer. I was, up to that point, not wanting to take on another doctoral student as I had intended to retire, before any new student could have completed.

At the time I worked in a security-controlled building and for days on end I would get a message from the reception folk to say there was someone here who wanted to speak with me. Much to my shame, I kept repeating that she needed to make an appointment and that might take some time. She had given her name, one I recognised from many emails she had sent me enquiring about doing a PhD, and the situation went on for the best part of a week. In the end I agreed to see her with a view to letting her know that I wasn’t taking on any more students, but I would help her find an alternative supervisor.  

When she did arrive, she asked me to read her proposal, set out over six pages or so. I did and thought it was a very interesting idea. B was from Saudi Arabia and her study was to focus on how female nurses experienced and dealt with the violence they received from the female patients they looked after. She said that after reading much of my work and after taking to other former students, she only wanted me. It was a dilemma. In the end my co-author, fellow academic and best friend Professor Sue McAndrew agreed to be part of the team so that when I retired, B would have some supervisor continuity. As it happened, I stayed with B until the end (although Sue did much of the heavy lifting).

Last week B completed her studies and will be awarded her well-deserved doctorate. She was the last of 21 students I have supervised through to completion. I am really pleased to say not one of my students has ever failed. In addition, I have examined 36 students, none of whom I knew, but whose work I have acknowledged to be an absolute contribution to knowledge and our understanding of life. All these experiences have been a great privilege to be part of, and I have such great memories of each of these individual journeys.

However, it was also an ending for me too. I felt very much like Mark Thackeray and/or Mr Chipping. The last tangible link to the University, my time as Dean and all the students and academic colleagues I had worked with and met over so many years, had gone. As a Professor Emeritus, I can of course continue to be part of a PhD supervisory team, but that is not the same as having that awesome responsibility of guiding someone through their ideas, helping them develop their research skills and of finally being able to help them achieve their dream and contributing to our understanding of the world. That is a special place to be in and one I have cherished for over 20 years.

Its probably time to let the next generation step up to the mark. They have the energy I once had, the audacity to challenge in a way that for me has been blunted by experience, and above all else they have the opportunity to inspire others, something needed in both academia and practice. So, as you might be able to see, by the middle of last week I was feeling more than a little sorry for myself. Two things changed that. The first was a phone call from someone I admire. They rang to let me know of their support of my challenge in a situation where there was otherwise a deafening silence. Since then, support for my challenge has gained momentum from many different quarters and I am confident the situation will now change.

The second thing was a very interesting discussion I had with someone who is seeking to make an application for a top job in the NHS and was seeking my advice. They started the conversation off by saying, ‘you won’t remember me, but you taught me research methods when I was doing my Master’s and that was some 10 or so years ago’. It was a Mark Thackeray rather than a Mr Chips moment. And dear reader, I hope that if you don’t take anything else from this week’s blog, please remember, you absolutely don’t know the impact of what it is you might say and do, both to and for others, and that the impact might stay with them for a very long time. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.