Serenity Now!
My law class is finally over!! Yeah!! I really struggled in that class. Not because I didn't understand the material, but because it was so difficult to determine what to study. There was enormous amount of information that we covered, and the instructor gave very little indication on what information he felt was most important. Several students in the class were very upset over the format of the class. On the first day, the instructor indicated that each lesson would be provided by one of the project groups in the class. That presentation would count as part of your final grade. There would not be any writing assignments. Participation in class would contribute to your grade, and then two exams worth 250 points each.
I expected that each group would present for up to maybe an hour, and then the facilitator would teach the rest of the class, reinforcing the points he felt were most important. Instead, as soon as the presentation was over, class was over. One class, the group finished their presentation within an hour, so we went home. Class is supposed to last four hours! This didn't help on the exams. I studied for what I thought was important on the first exam, but it wasn't enough. I scored a 199/250, which was average for the class. The instructor does not grade on a curve though. Instead, there are 1000 total points available for the class. He indicated that you would receive 100% credit for the presentation and participation just by showing up. That left the two exams. The grading scaled was figured as
| Score | Grade |
| 950 - 1000 | A |
| 920 - 950 | A- |
| 900 - 920 | B+ |
| 800 - 900 | B |
| 780 - 800 | B- |
| 760 - 780 | C+ |
| 660 - 760 | C |
| 600 - 660 | D |
| <600 | F |
So after the first exam, it was impossible for me to get an A in the course. The best I could hope for was an A-. On the other hand, I could show up and do nothing more than right my name on the paper and pass the course with a C. I didn't even need to get half the points available on the exam to get a B in the class. So I was really torn about how much effort I wanted to put into the last exam.
I'm not used to writing with a pen, so the blue book exams were pretty tough on my hands. It took me two and half hours to complete the five exam questions, and my hands were killing me by the end. I probably could have put more down on the last few questions, but I was just tired of thinking about all of that stuff, and my hands hurt. I figured that I already had my B from the first few questions, and I had very little chance of getting my A-.
This course gave me a real distaste for the law. I don't feel that the judicial system is working properly, as it does not appear that the goal is to promote justice. Instead, it is a place where attorney's are encouraged to use every underhanded trick in the book to increase their odds of getting a favorable judge and jury, and then to bend the rules and push the interpretation of laws to the breaking point. I don't understand how this system can work. It just reaffirms my choice not to get into law earlier. Blech!
