For those of you not in law school, one of the main features of the law school class is that professors actually lecture very little. Instead, in a manner known as the socratic method, they call on students and ask them generally pretty open ended questions. Students are then forced to answer or face embarrassment in front of the whole classroom. How long the professor will spend torturing you if you do not actually know the answer varies by professor.
I actually do not have a huge gripe with the socratic method except that occasionally you will get professors that ask questions that are so vague and out of context that you are completely uncertain of what they are even asking. I had a professor this summer who actually tongue in cheek called this, "Guess What I am Thinking," which I am sure he knew aptly describes the more serious attitude of some of his colleagues.
The problem with this whole situation is that often a professor will ambush you when you otherwise understand the material. This morning I was faced with this situation- as long as the professor was asking me questions about the reading, no problem. But then he seemed to drift off into "What am I thinking land?" His question might very well have been, "What color underwear am I wearing?" or "What year did I get my wisdom teeth out?" [I can totally see him responding, "TRICK QUESTION! I never got them out!"] This same guy loves to randomly call on you about twenty minutes later in the class and ask you something totally out of context, because apparently it relates back to what he was talking with you about earlier. ["...and this relates back to what we were talking about earlier with my underwear which were- what color J.P.?"].
The point is- stop wasting our time. This is not productive, although I realize it may be how you get your cheap jollies. Students are not mind readers and the only thing this sort of questioning results in is letting people who dodge direct questions instead spew off topic drivel for a couple minutes until you finally tell us what is actually going on inside your sick and derranged mind ["HAH! I'm not WEARING ANY UNDERWEAR!!!"].
Comments