Monday, January 12, 2009

It's capitalism, baby.

I've been demoted.

Last spring I was working on the book, so the law school let me drop a class.  I dropped Contracts II so I'm having to take it now with the 1Ls.  The 1Ls aren't that insufferable or anything, but it does feel odd to be dropped into a section of new(er) students who all seem to know each other.  

Prof. Marsh is teaching the class.  I took a class of his last semester, and while I don't have my grade back from that class yet, I did really like his teaching style.  He's very practical.  Right now he's talking about efficiency and studying for exams, and I appreciate that he's emphasizing how important efficiency is.  You could spend years mastering the material for one law school exam, but that's not what we're asked to do.  Since you have to learn it in a semester, and since the volume of material that's assigned is so enormous, you have to learn how to read and study effectively in the least amount of time.  Academics tend to get caught up in romantic descriptions of "long term" and "short term" learning, and while there may be some truth to those labels, the real world rewards efficiency.  If you can get there by spending 100 hours (or, say, $100), but I can get there in an hour (or $1), I win.  It's not me; it's capitalism, baby.  

(Sidenote: When you raise your hand and begin an answer with the word "Briefly, ..." that's a clue that it's not going to be brief.  It's also annoyingly sure-sounding and makes me want to argue against you.  Just sayin'.)

Anyway, I'm going to go take notes on arbitration now, but I'll update throughout the day.  Cheers.  

1 comment:

Michael from dadcation.com said...

Glad you "get it" while still in school. I'm sure several of your classmates don't. Especially if they went straight to lawschool from undergrad.