December 11, 2007
View Comments | Post CommentWhat classes am I taking again?
Oh, exams, you cads! Always sneaking up on me when I am at most leisurely. It's at this time every semester when I have this dialogue with myself:
"Hey, brain. What's up."
"Oh, not too much. Just chilling out, playing some Moon Master, thinking about remodeling the blogs, you know. Same old."
"Cool. Oh, hey, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you about something."
"About what?"
"Well, you remember how I told you that I was in law school? Well, it seems that this week--"
"You son of a bitch, you did it again!"
"What?"
"You didn't learn a single thing all fucking semester, and now you have an exam! And you're coming to me, your brain, for help. Again."
"No I'm not. I wouldn't do that. <pause> Well, okay. I am. But you don't understand. It's because--"
"You know, this is why other students do those things that we discussed at the beginning of the semester. You know the ones."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know. Reading. Going to class. Listening to the fucking professor every once in a while."
"Wait, wait. Reading? People still do that?"
"Yes."
"Oh, you mean like pleasure reading. Yeah, I should do that."
"No, I don't mean pleasure reading. I mean reading for class. Like cases, and statutes and stuff."
"You're joking."
"No! You should be reading that stuff when the teacher assigns it!"
"I thought everyone stopped reading for classes in like 2002."
"Yeah, yeah. That's what you said four months ago. But I pointed out to you how every December and May, you come crying to me about not knowing any of the things you're supposed to be tested on, and so I take pity on you and work my magic. We get lucky, but in return, you always promise that next semester, you're going to read, and you're going to attend class, and you're actually going to listen to your professors. But then, a mere week into the next semester, you abandon it."
"I said I'd do those things?"
"Yes you did, and you're a liar."
"Alright, fine. I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry. Next semester, I really will be a real law student. Seriously. This is the last time. So come on, brain, help me out. Just this once. I have two days to learn Criminal Law. Pleeeeease?"
So that's that. Now I'm at it again. Crim Law exam Wednesday. Don't know much Crim Law. Studying. Worried. And Hungry Food insecure.
Posted at December 11, 2007 12:00 AM | Comments (4)
Comments
Post a new comment
Sorry, again this is unrelated. Would you send your address to lsmsrbls@gmail.com, please?
Posted by: lsmsrbls at December 11, 2007 12:50 AM
You know, I was actually going to ask you how you find all this time to blog and cook and go out to fancy dinners with your girlfriend. I definitely do not have that kind of time. I spend about 80% of my time working on projects. Shit, I worked hard all semester besides taking a week off to go on a Thanksgiving trip, and I still had to work 12 hours a day for a 2 weeks (including weekends) to code all my final projects. And I took on some freelance work, but thats my own fault.
I learned a shitload of stuff though. I definitely got my money's worth of education this semester. Don't you feel bad about paying so much money to go to school, and then not, you know, going to school?
But I see now, you make time by canceling your classes. Bad David, bad bad bad....
Posted by: Chris Santoro at December 11, 2007 2:01 PM
I have way more free time in law school than I ever had in undergrad, or high school, or really, ever. Even if I did all my work, and always went to class, I'd still have no trouble going out to dinners or blogging, or even cooking modest dinners every night. I might not be able to lavish time on experimental cookery, but my lifestyle wouldn't have to change significantly. It would mostly cut into my random internet browsing time.
I'm glad you're finding your program to be so interesting and useful. The trouble with law school is that, after the first year, it really isn't very useful. You learn how to deal with a legal issue when you encounter it. There are infinitely many possible legal issues, so it is infeasible to acquire knowledge of them all, even within a very narrow field.
But despite that, I do learn a lot from my classes. I may not delve as deeply into a subject as I might if I was intensely interested in it, but I do learn it, enough to get a decent grade (B+ average), and that grade generally reflects what I retain, even if it doesn't reflect how much work I put in.
As for the value of school, I don't view law school (and don't think many others do either) as paying for knowledge or understanding. It is professional school. One of the benefits of it is learning a little bit about how to practice law (and I do mean a little bit--we graduate as pretty bad lawyers, because law school simply doesn't train us much for practice). But another benefit, which is no less important, is that graduating allows us to apply for admission to the bar and therefore actually practice law. Law school allows us to get a job in law, and make money. So yeah, we're paying for a little learning, but more so, we're paying for a degree that says we've learned a little bit. I anticipate my degree being worth every penny, and it still would be even if I hadn't learned anything.
Oh, and I do actually commit some effort to my practical classes, i.e. trial practice stuff. That is actually beneficial, and it somewhat reflects what I'll be doing in my career, which makes it more interesting and helpful. But knowing the elements of Attempted Larceny aren't of much use to me.
Posted by: Barzelay at December 11, 2007 6:56 PM
I read some patents this year for a Digital Audio class, and it made me think of you. Then it made me glad I'm not in law school. Interesting if you love to play with language though.
Posted by: Chris Santoro at December 11, 2007 8:19 PM
