First, I have not written this blog in the last few weeks. Many reasons exist. One excuse I will use is I was lazy and succumbed to the laziness. Another reason will be discussed in the next blog entry. Now onto to this entry.
Yesterday, last semester's grades were released. At 4 pm, the campus was a ghost town for professors. At 3:55 when Torts ended, my professor bolted from the premises. Several students lingered in class waiting for 4 pm so they could sign into their account and view their grades. Other students followed the professor's lead and bolted from the campus - they headed home to view their grades in private.
I took a different route. Some employers require a copy of your grades to be provided when applying for internships. I visited the registrar last week and paid for a copy of my transcript. The transcript was waiting for me in the registrar's office. I picked it up at the stroke of 4 pm.
Throughout this week, each professor addressed the issue of grades. The tutors also chimed in with their perspective. Everyone acknowledges the Cal Western curve creates anxiety in students, especially first year students. The belief is some students will be forced to fail because of the curve. Whether this is 100% true is open for debate. We'll return to this aspect later.
One of my professors said the grade reflected your performance on the day of the exam for that small time period. The grade is not necessarily a reflection of you as a person or you as a potential lawyer. One of my tutors said while you may have done great the first semester, this is not a guarantee for the second semester. Especially when considering those students who feel the grade was not reflective of them and thus work harder the second semester. By working harder, those students raise their exam performance which makes it harder for the upper average students to maintain their average. There is truth in these statements.
Some students are lamenting their law school careers right now. They did not score as high as they would've liked. Some students are ecstatic with how they performed. This means some students will work harder next semester to raise their grades and other students might slack, thus lowering their grades. Your perspective of your grade will drive your performance the next semester. Keep the right perspective and you'll get the right grade. Of course, your perspective will drive your determination and your work output related to law school. Have the right perspective and you will have the right work ethic. Have the right work ethic and you will have the right performance on your exam. Have the right performance on your exam and you should have the right grade compared to the performance of your fellow classmates.
And that is the crux of the curve at Cal Western. You perform well compared to everyone else, you have a good grade. You don't perform well compared to everyone else, you don't have a good grade. Granted the first year, some amount of "forced" grading occurs but this is in the final tally.
While grading the essays, the grade is subjective. This means the grade is based on the viewpoint of the professor and not on some objective standard. For example, on a math exam there is only 1 answer for 2+2. Either you know it or you don't. Objective. But on essays, which are based on interpretations of the law applied to the fact pattern, objective standards CANNOT work. Here is why.
In the courtroom, the two opposing sides will tell their "story" to either the judge or the jury. The jury then uses the standard of the law applied to the facts of the cases as told by each side. The more persuasive side wins. This is how law school exams are graded.
The most persuasive student essay will get the highest grade. The least persuasive student essay will get the lowest grade. Just like in real life! Make better arguments on the exam, make a better grade on the exam.
After the essays are graded, they are ranked. The ranking then determines the final grade based on the "curve." So the lowest scored essay will get the lowest curved grade. If the essay with the lowest grade would not win in court, why should it win in class?
If a student gets low grades in most of their classes, they will not be asked back next year by the administration. This is where much of the anxiety comes from. People do not want to be failures. But is it really failing?
I wouldn't mind playing football. I, however, do not have what it takes to be a football player. I know if I tried out, I would "fail." But, is this really failing if I wasn't meant to be a football player? The answer lies in one's perspective.
The student, who makes the least persuasive arguments in class and on exams, will usually be the lawyer who will make the least persuasive argument in court. Do you want them as your lawyer? This tells me, this student was not meant to be a lawyer. Only a failure fails at something they could do or were meant to do. Someone who fails at something they shouldn't do in the first place, cannot "fail."
The curve has meaning at Cal Western. Your perspective will determine how you view the curve and its outcome. Your perspective also determines how you perform. How you perform determines your grade on that curve. I want my perspective to align with the curve.
Grades were released yesterday, many student perspectives have changed - hopefully, changed for the better.
No comments:
Post a Comment