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ToughLovePedagogy 17 - 10 Apr 2009 - Main.AnjaHavedal
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| | The Relative Wisdom of Tough Love Pedagogy
Consider the following hypothetical: | | | -- AnjaliBhat - 09 Apr 2009
I just wanted to respond to the Professor's contention that some of us jumped in to defend his teaching style after Anja's post. I can honestly say that I wasn't being toadying. I had never been to office hours in my entire college and law school career before today. I went to Moglen's because I thought I would get something useful out of it and not be bullshitted. I'm not sure whether this class couldn't be just as effective without the tough-love approach, but if its part of the package, its not a deal-breaker for me. | |
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> | -- WalkerNewell - 09 Apr 2009
I would like to respond to today's discussion by posting my second paper (which, unsurprisingly, is a rewrite of the paper on which I based my hypo) but I'm not sure how. The automated notification email said that Ian Sullivan had uploaded the SecondPaper? template, but I can't access it. Any ideas?
-- AnjaHavedal? - 10 Apr 2009 |
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ToughLovePedagogy 16 - 09 Apr 2009 - Main.WalkerNewell
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| | The Relative Wisdom of Tough Love Pedagogy
Consider the following hypothetical: | | | In those circumstances, yes, tough love is great. The question for us is, does this class meet those standards?
-- AnjaliBhat - 09 Apr 2009 | |
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> | I just wanted to respond to the Professor's contention that some of us jumped in to defend his teaching style after Anja's post. I can honestly say that I wasn't being toadying. I had never been to office hours in my entire college and law school career before today. I went to Moglen's because I thought I would get something useful out of it and not be bullshitted. I'm not sure whether this class couldn't be just as effective without the tough-love approach, but if its part of the package, its not a deal-breaker for me. |
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ToughLovePedagogy 15 - 09 Apr 2009 - Main.AnjaliBhat
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| | The Relative Wisdom of Tough Love Pedagogy
Consider the following hypothetical: | | | Whether or not "tough love" is productive depends (among other things) on the level of trust between the person doling out the tough love and the person getting it. It's not just a factor of the recipient's personal psychology, vulnerabilities, thickness of skin, etc. | |
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< | Personally I'm pretty skeptical of claims to "tough love" as a general rule. Often it just seems like an excuse for a person in power (especially a petty position of power, like a professor or teacher) to vent his or her spleen on someone who can't do anything about it. For tough love to be effective, the recipient has to believe the following things: (1) the doler-out has the recipient's best interests at heart, (2) the doler-out has some sort of fair, coherent system s/he uses as a basis for criticism, i.e. s/he is not just criticizing because breakfast that day was unpleasant, or out of some generalized anger at the world, and (3) the criticism is useful, and the recipient can take it do something with it. | >
> | Personally I'm pretty skeptical of claims to "tough love" as a general rule. Often it just seems like an excuse for a person in power (especially a petty position of power, like a professor or teacher) to vent his or her spleen on someone who can't do anything about it. For tough love to be effective, the recipient has to believe the following things: (1) the doler-out has the recipient's best interests at heart, (2) the doler-out has some sort of fair, coherent system s/he uses as a basis for criticism, i.e. s/he is not just criticizing because breakfast that day was unpleasant, or out of some generalized anger at the world, and (3) the criticism is useful, and the recipient can take it and do something with it. | | | In those circumstances, yes, tough love is great. The question for us is, does this class meet those standards? |
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ToughLovePedagogy 14 - 09 Apr 2009 - Main.WalkerNewell
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| | The Relative Wisdom of Tough Love Pedagogy
Consider the following hypothetical: | | | I don't know if you're referring to a specific person/essay, but this is an interesting hypothetical regardless and definitely relates to some conversations I've had about the class. | |
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< | There seems to be many of our classmates who, while finding the class to be stimulating, don't really buy the presumptions. I'm doubt that the individuals in the class who came in with a well-formed intent to, for example, work for Skadden will be leaving the class planning on working for the ACLU. More doubt may enter into their calculation, but my experiences with other 1L's have shown me that the potential security and prosperity that they sought when entering law school are not easily discarded in favor of what they view as a more risky approach. Some individuals are also concerned with the credibility of certain claims made by the Professor, regarding the job market we are entering. Those of us already inclined against a BigLaw career may embrace the statistics regarding the increasing difficulty of entering the field, but others seem to view the information as suspect. | >
> | There seem to be many of our classmates who, while finding the class to be stimulating, don't really buy the presumptions. I doubt that the individuals in the class who came in with a well-formed intent to, for example, work for Skadden will be leaving the class planning on working for Mom & Pop's Country Law Firm. More doubt may enter into their calculation, but my experiences with other 1L's have shown me that the potential security and prosperity that they sought when entering law school are not easily discarded in favor of what they view as a more risky approach. Some individuals are also concerned with the credibility of certain claims made by the Professor, regarding the job market we are entering. Those of us already inclined against a BigLaw career may embrace the statistics regarding the increasing difficulty of entering the field, but others seem to view the information as suspect. | | | For those of us who entered the class with other expectations of what our careers will be, I think it may be useful to have the criticism that Professor Moglen has given some of our papers. I find myself seeking some public interest job, ill-defined in my mind, which I imagine will be given to me on a platter if I jump through enough hoops provided for me by the law school. This class has increasingly made me realize that I will need to do a lot of legwork on my own if I want to find something that I will enjoy and is a realistic possibility. Further, the Professor's criticism of my essay has caused me to want to improve on ideas which are close to my heart, and which I would like to be able to formulate more effectively and persuasively. |
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