| | |
|
TheCurve 4 - 13 May 2023 - Main.MichaelPari
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="WebPreferences" |
|---|
Thinking on the curve | | | Nicole — I've been having the same thoughts too. This year, I have constantly questioned myself and wondered what had happened to the intellectual curiosity that I had for my undergraduate studies, where I would actively think about real-world consequences and try to make connections about what I was reading, even if it were a text from over 2,000 years ago, to the institutions and structures around me. The emphasis on the curve has occupied so much of my mental space where the curiosity of my brain has been hardwired to only think in terms of rubrics and what comments could get me points on the final. Your post reminds me of Eben's last words to us about being creative in law school and our career — the school and Big Law's continuous promotion of the curve has actively discouraged creativity, and I can see it in my own approach to my studies. There is a cruel irony in how law school draws so many academically fascinated and thoughtful individuals, yet is structured in a manner which does not reward thoughtfulness. With this realization, I'm hoping that we can carve out our own paths away from the traditional pressures and structures of law school and find space to exercise the creativity which we entered law school with. - Gillian
| |
>
> |
Hi Nicole! Really enjoyed reading this, once I saw an essay on the curve here I wanted to take a look. For context, my biggest project in undergrad was working with the dean of my program and some senior professors to discuss changes in the grading policy. I took it on because I was surprised by the subliminal hostility that the one used when I first arrived at college brought about. Part of the problem, at least to me, seems to be that virtually everyone in the room both there and here is used to achieving at the highest level, and anything less often results in shock, disappointment, and self-doubt. I certainly saw this among peers in college, when people internalized that, no matter how much we learned, most of us would not "do well," at least not at the level we were all accustomed to. The solution I proposed at the time was that the grades awarded would either be those required by the curve, or those brought about by a more traditional 94% or higher: A, 90-93.9: A-, etc. system, whichever is higher. That way, there is no de-facto punishment for collaboration and excelling as a class, as, saddeningly, collaborative behavior is negatively incentivized under a strictly curved system. As discussed in class, academic incentives are incredibly effective motivators. While our classes here do not lend themselves to a similar system, as a grade of 94% on a law exam is almost unheard of, I would be interested in arguments for other grading systems considered here. I found parts of the project in college frustrating at times, and feel that law school is even more stuck in its ways than my undergraduate program, but feel there has to be a system better than this one that seems to disincentivize collaboration. While I have found people here to be generally friendly and willing to help, I did notice a positive change after grade reforms were enacted in college, and am hopeful that similar improvements would follow here were a reformed policy enacted at CLS. - Michael
| | | \ No newline at end of file |
|
|
|
|
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
|
|
| | |