I already hate the Socratic method...
Today was my first time in class. My gut reaction is: please, PLEASE, do not make me go back.
The Socratic method is a counter-intuitive and dare I say very ineffective way of instructing. For some horrible reason, that is the only method that law schools use.
The method consists of the professor asking students questions that are supposed to give them greater insight into the law. But what I witnessed today was in NO way instructive or even constructive.
My first class, Contracts, was taught by an energetic proff whom I admire much. But her questions were so open ended. Hopelessly open ended. There were a hundred different ways to answer and several levels of answers a student could give. Why is objective intent the standard for contract law? Why economically? Morally? Pragmatically? Which one was the one she was looking for? It was impossible to know.
In my second class, Civil Procedure, the Socratic method seemed to be the perfect excuse for not preparing for class at all. This absent minded professor spent the entire hour and a half asking questions about things that had NOTHING to do with our reading. Of course, if he had to lecture, like most normal professors, he would have nothing to say. But because he can hide behind the Socratic method, he could fuddle through the class time asking really REALLY randomn things.
But aside from the awful instruction, or lack thereof, I'm also sore from studying. My brain feels like a 250lb couch potato made to jump into Army basic training. Run 10 miles! Then drop and give me 20! Now 100 sit-ups! Go! Go! Go! Stop crying like a little girl! Or as my army friend would say, "Suck it up little piggy!"
I have never felt as mentally exhausted in all 25 years of living as I have in just one measly day. ONE day's thinking, reading, and lecturing is more mental heavy-lifting than ALL my years of education put together, I dare say. And it hurts. And when I think that tomorrow I'll have to do it all over again, and again, and again...I feel like crying. It's soooo hard.
But that's what I wanted. To be mentally stimulated. Be careful what you wish for.
The Socratic method is a counter-intuitive and dare I say very ineffective way of instructing. For some horrible reason, that is the only method that law schools use.
The method consists of the professor asking students questions that are supposed to give them greater insight into the law. But what I witnessed today was in NO way instructive or even constructive.
My first class, Contracts, was taught by an energetic proff whom I admire much. But her questions were so open ended. Hopelessly open ended. There were a hundred different ways to answer and several levels of answers a student could give. Why is objective intent the standard for contract law? Why economically? Morally? Pragmatically? Which one was the one she was looking for? It was impossible to know.
In my second class, Civil Procedure, the Socratic method seemed to be the perfect excuse for not preparing for class at all. This absent minded professor spent the entire hour and a half asking questions about things that had NOTHING to do with our reading. Of course, if he had to lecture, like most normal professors, he would have nothing to say. But because he can hide behind the Socratic method, he could fuddle through the class time asking really REALLY randomn things.
But aside from the awful instruction, or lack thereof, I'm also sore from studying. My brain feels like a 250lb couch potato made to jump into Army basic training. Run 10 miles! Then drop and give me 20! Now 100 sit-ups! Go! Go! Go! Stop crying like a little girl! Or as my army friend would say, "Suck it up little piggy!"
I have never felt as mentally exhausted in all 25 years of living as I have in just one measly day. ONE day's thinking, reading, and lecturing is more mental heavy-lifting than ALL my years of education put together, I dare say. And it hurts. And when I think that tomorrow I'll have to do it all over again, and again, and again...I feel like crying. It's soooo hard.
But that's what I wanted. To be mentally stimulated. Be careful what you wish for.
posted by Alice in Wonderland at 10:17 PM
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