As my students in Constitutional Law are well aware, my Con Law professor in law school was Archibald Cox.  If you doubt me, you can look it up on his Wikipedia entry, where someone saw fit to memorialize that fact.  No one ever bothered to ask me what grade I received.  At this time of the year, when many of my students are coming by my office to discuss their final grade, it may be comforting for some to learn that Professor Cox gave me a “B.”  I still think that he undervalued my class participation.

A large part of my life has been devoted to getting into law school (it was not an easy task for me), and now that I am here I find myself slightly disappointed. It is not that I don’t find law school to be challenging or interesting; it is just that it is not as intellectually stimulating as I had hoped. Maybe my expectations are too high, but is it really too much to ask to have an interesting class discussion?

Before I go any further, I want to make sure that everyone understands that I am not faulting the professors for the lack of class participation. The majority, if not all, of the professors I have had at Marquette have tried to elicit class discussions. Students are just unwilling to say anything. Wait, let me correct that:  most students are unwilling to say anything. There are some students who participate in every class, and, while I appreciate their contributions, no one wants to hear the same person talk all the time. It is about balance, about involving as many perspectives as possible to gain a greater appreciation for the law and the effects it has on individuals.