The personality of the teacher often made as great an impact on a student as did the teacher's methods and knowledge. Because of the close quarters of faculty and students in the same building and eating meals together, there was little premium for a teacher to put on a "performance" in the classroom. Students saw the teacher in and out of class, in good or bad humor, easy or difficult to approach at any time. Informal conversations with faculty gave students further perspective on each teacher – usually this close-up acquaintance was on the positive side. Students perhaps would agree with the one who wrote, "he had many faults, but...."

The close living and study arrangements also allowed students to view one or more of the faculty as mentors, guides, helpful adults. For some students, as the excerpts show, this experience was a crucial one in their later lives. Also, the essays by former students bear little trace of strong adverse reactions to the problematic behavior that occurred among certain faculty members. While some students were, in fact, unaware of much that transpired among the faculty, others did know quite a lot, gossiped about it, but in the end had little stake in that aspect of BMC life.

Robert Sunley