Every year for the last 25 years, I've graded undergrad exam scripts in Cambridge.
Every year, I reach for the same red ballpoint pen as the pile of scripts lands, wummppphh, on my desk. So this year, the ink pretty much ran out on that pen.
Is this a sign? Well, yes, it suggests biros are really quite well made, given how long they last, and whatever they use for ink has amazing longevity (as anyone knows who has had one leak in their white shirt pocket).
But it made me think - is there a lesson about the length and quality of an academic career that could be combined in this one metric: How long does that biro last?
The argument goes thus: the better you teach, the less red ink you have to use to give feedback (and grades) to students. so you are motivated to teach well (you can't game this by just setting easier questions, because there are second examiners and an exam board and all sorts of statistical checks across each student, each cohort, each paper etc etc).
On arrival in cambridge, i suggest we give each university teaching officer a single red biro. and they get to retire (at least from teaching) when it runs out.
On a sample of one, this roughly corresponds with my current expected retirement age (if you accept Cambridge's illegal EJRA arguments - but that's another story).
Fair?
(To note, I'm also attending an alumni dinner at Trinity College this year on the 50th anniversary of Matriculating (admission to Cambridge as a NatSci undergraduate). I also looked at my academic diary and note its 40 years since I formally started teaching (at UCL initially). I also recently met a 3rdyr PhD student whose advisor was advised by one of my past PhD students, so that's 4 generations of PhDs in one place - which kind of makes sense, if you think how long it takes from starting academic study to getting to the point you could advise others, then a generation is roughly a decade. so 4 decades of red ink.
