198 Difference
See, I just go for the easy question. [... ] in the back, you can tell when no one’s going
to answer the easy question. (7-15)I brief every case and leave room on the page for class notes. (5-1)I- I’m always big on balancing school and job with your life, and I- I made sure that
I- I messed around during those couple weeks (exams), I think it’s vital to your
sanity. (6-2-M)This focus on strategies leads many of the students to speak with approval of pro-
fessors who give them overt strategic guidance, as long as the guidance turns out
to be useful. For example, students were very pleased with their professor in Class
#6 (our most inclusive classroom, taught in a local law school by a female pro-
fessor), praising her clarity and specific instructions on how to prepare for the
exams:
[The following comments emerge from an informal discussion among four students,
who are talking enthusiastically and overlapping their speech.]
6-1-F: She definitely gears you towards // the exam- //
6-2-M: // The good // professors can give
you signals--
6–3–F: --She’s the most, and you know she did say that her coll-
I remember she told us- ah, the beginning of the semester, that her
colleagues have criticized her for being a spoon-feeder.
Interviewer: Oh really?
6-3-F: Yeah. But // I-// [multiple speakers, overlapping speech]
6-1-F: // I // appreciate that so much, the straightforward//ness//
6-3-F: // Well,//
I think the- le, y’know, play- I don’t see what the point is of playing
this hide-the-ball sort of game with students like they do in The
Paper Chase and that sort of thing, I don’t- I don’t (serve) what
purpose that serves.On the other hand, there is some dissent from an orientation that focuses to too
great a degree on strategy and exams, as with this student from a local law school:
1-F: But I just feel like that attitude is so pervasive here, everyone is
constantly looking towards exams an- and like when the professors say
it too, it’s like, “Ugh, can’t we just learn? Can’t anyone just wanna learn?”1-F: I don’t like that our- that our futures are so dependent on these
rankings in the first year, it’s so important [Student 3: Right]
[Student 2: I do not like that].Although some studies have stressed the differences between upper- and lower-
status law schools in terms of the degree to which professors teach theory as opposed
to more practical information, this quote from a student in a local law school fore-
shadows some convergence among the classes and students of this study.
On the one hand, there are some slight differences in emphasis between some
of the more elite classes, favoring theory, and some of the less elite classes. On the