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Death by laptop

Peter Phillips

Wednesday, 12th March 2008

Peter Phillips on taking Victoria's Requiem to the college campuses of America

Another feature of our student audiences has been the prevalence of laptops. Whereas ten years ago the severest headache confronting the authorities was the lack of sufficient parking for the first-years — everyone was expected to have a sports car and a pick-up truck — now it is the incessant clicking of laptops around every corner and in every situation, rendering their operators oblivious to the outside world. To be fair the use of these things is greatly encouraged by the availability of wi-fi access in every public space in the country. No longer do we all have to cram into the lobby of our hotel, for example, to get a signal. Every bedroom is wired, as is every concert hall. In Norfolk, Virginia, a friend of mine, sitting towards the back of a resonant hall, found his appreciation of the music disturbed by a student who had been set the task of writing a review of the concert. This she was doing then and there on her laptop. Exasperated, my friend leant forward, tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, ‘I find your typing incredibly distracting,’ to which she replied, without stopping, ‘I need you not to touch me.’

But if the students are confused by their situation in life, so too are the organisations which they belong to. The Bush government has decided it is going to have to do something about the fabulous wealth which the leading American universities have accumulated. Harvard, which can raise several billion annually on investments alone, is at the top of this list and is said to be one of the richest organisations in the world, yet, because it is a charity, it pays little in tax. This must be frustrating for a government which is effectively bankrupt, but it is not the only reason for its concern. Harvard and places like it continue to receive endowments from their grateful alumni while the ever-increasing level of student debt, caused in part no doubt by updating their laptops every year, not to mention the relentless raising of tuition fees, has become a national scandal. The expected rate of tipping student waiters in restaurants has risen to at least 20 per cent, while their welcoming smiles have become yet more insistent, their unsolicited familiarities at the table more desperate.