<p>Taken out of context, that quote Geomom provided does sound harsh:</p>
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<p>But the entire paragraph is actually recommending that advisors forge a personal connection with their students. This text comes from a page providing guidance to advisors. Here’s the full paragraph:</p>
<p>The educational process at MIT is centered around the interaction between faculty and students. Academic advising is as important to student education as classroom teaching and research supervision. In our engineering subjects, classroom time is usually focused on the technical subject matter, but discussion of broader issues is also important to students’ education. Although some students and faculty interact outside the classroom, it is not uncommon for an undergraduate to go through MIT without knowing any faculty member well enough to discuss with them topics such as personal motivations and goals, thics, lifestyles, tec., in addition to academic plans. Through such discussions, the advisor can make a unique input to the student’s education. At the same time, the advisor will be improving his or her abilities as a teacher and advisor by learning about the concerns of students in greater depth and breadth.</p>