The Relative Wisdom of Tough Love Pedagogy

I'll go first. I found that Eben's style was helpful for me (and I hope for others) because I want someone to take the time to evaluate my skill set, then instruct me accordingly. As a youngster, I would always get yelled at by my H.S. basketball coach more than others, because "everyone gets treated fairly, but not every one gets treated the same." I became a more capable player as a result. In full disclosure, having gone to graduate school education (where your ideas may be mercilessly beaten) probably prepared me for this type of learning environment more than some.

In any event, I'm not sure that all of us will judge the class in the same way now as we would next year or five or ten years down the road. Nonetheless, strong writing, using language carefully, and the willingness (and ability) to engage in frank, meaningful debate are valuable in any field, but especially so in the legal profession. I think those skills are most fully developed in a relative adversarial context, and Eben's individual stylistic shortcomings or strong suits are only important at the margins. No other course honed the aforementioned skills as much as this class did.

Without struggle, there is no progress.