Horton Hears a Who! or why law school is brilliant
Today was a fine day in class. Besides watching our contracts professor turn beet red after saying 'shit' in front of the class and his very adorable young daughter (he's said 'shit' before - rarely, but a couple of times - and clearly forgot his kid was there) - which led to the class breaking down into howls of laughter, we witnessed a unique performance by our torts professor of Horton Hears a Who.
He made a reference to the kangaroo in the pouch saying 'me too!' (which I got, but I'm not sure how many other people in the class were raised on Dr. Seuss quite as much as I was). Realizing that there were a lot of blank stares, he started retelling the story - including climbing onto a chair and acting out the best bits of it. It was the first time I'd thought of the story in years, but he accentuated points of the story that I'd forgotten - i.e. that it's a story about people getting together and power in unity - and about the little guys standing up for themselves. The story had nothing to do with what we were studying (cause in fact), but it was an extremely good rendition that garnered a round of applause once he was through.
Law school is brilliant. That's all I have to say.
posted by Nixie at 12:58 PM
6 Comments:
Here via JD2B, and I just have to say that this blog is pretty brilliant. Harry Potter, House, and law school...I'll definitely be keeping up.
Sounds like you’ve got a crappy professor who ‘accidentally’ says a rude word in front of a kid (“How cool!”), then gives you an ‘impromptu’ rendition of Horton (that he really planned well in advance, and you’ll soon learn that he gives to every class each year).
Come exam time and bar review time, you’ll be cursing this idiot of a professor for not teaching the subject and for spending too much time showing off to you in class. Every school (even those in the lower tiers) has these professors – you’ll meet many more, I’ve met my fair share of them, and I’ve sat through more ‘unplanned’ and ‘unrehearsed’ renditions of literature, plays, movies, poems and everything else you could possibly imagine. Your school is not unique, and like everyone else, the ‘act’ will wear thin very soon when you realize that law school is not this brilliant educational experience, but nothing more than a production line that’s very profitable for the school and the law professors. You’ll soon realize that for all their displays of intelligence, these law professors know nothing about actually practicing law, and often barely know their own subjects. You’ll soon realize that the way in which law is taught is wasteful, expensive, and ineffective. You’ll get to the end of 3L and say to yourself, “Well, that could have been taught in one year.”
The more your professor strays from the path in class, the less he or she knows about the subject. You’ll come to this realization soon enough, and you’ll soon start avoiding these ineffective professors once you see your student loan bills going through the roof while your knowledge stays at minimum levels. If you want entertainment, there’s far cheaper places to get it than in a law school classroom.
You classmates probably gave ‘blank stares’ not because they didn’t recognize the story, but because they were wondering why this jackass was wasting their time and money on nothing more than an irrelevant ego trip.
11:23 needs to chill out. his / her comment typifies the type of anal-retentive lame ass who is capable of choking even the smallest amount of enjoyment out of an academic experience. one entertaining anecdotal diversion, and this prof's a "crappy" "idiot." and two years from now someone with the aptitude to get into U of M Law is going to be cursing him because she didn't spend every possible second on cause in fact?? what a dick.
11:23 sounds a little bitter. For the record - 1) it was two different profs - one who swore and one who told the story, 2) both profs are actually certifiably brilliant, 3) I expected law school to be a factory and so far I find it much more interesting than I'd thought, 4) this prof knows how to practice law - did a lot of litigation, 5) I'm not in school to learn black letter law - I'm here to expand the ways I think and take interesting courses beyond the core curriculum - black letter law can be learned out of a book.
Yeah, both our torts and contracts profs are pretty cool (I'm a bit pattial to the torts guy, myself.) You would think that UMich could afford a decent AIR CONDITIONING system for that building!
11:23 sounds a little bitter.
Sweetheart, it's interesting now, but wait until you start your second year. Almost gauranteed to be singing a new song. Almost everyone I know graduates from law school with the same taste of dust in their mouths as Mr. 11:23.
Post a Comment
<< Home