Don't give 'em an inch

Law school teaches one how to fight. Lawyers call it "advocacy."

One tactic involves burying an opponent's facts with a landslide of your own. The more true and relevant an opponent's fact, the deeper you want to bury it beneath the surface of discussion.

I know there is a legitimate reason for causing confusion, i.e. a professional obligation of a lawyer to her client when confusion will obscure the client's liability.

Once upon a time I even admired the ability to argue any point. These days, however, I prefer common sense.

Can video games help save the world?

Here is a reason to think they can.

And another.

Here is a way video game developers and our government are collaborating to fight childhood obesity and encourage healthy eating habits.

A January 2010 Time article on the subject.

In her TED Talk videogame developer Jane McGonigal explains how to we can achieve a better future through gaming.

At the 2010 Triangle Games Conference, another videogame developer Juan Benito talks about his game Six Days in Fellujah, based on personal experiences of soldiers. Using videogames to tell contemporary stories, Benito suggests that videogames can inform and increase young people's participation in politics.

Here is another example of videogame storytelling. Like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, this short juxtaposes human actors in a videogame world, a desolate zombie-filled city some may recognize from the smash-hit Left 4 Dead.

Lastly, if you thought that no respectable school would use popular videogames in its curriculum, then think again. In its online course IDS2935, “21st Century Skills in StarCraft.”honors students at the University of Florida learn critical thinking skills by playing the computer game Starcraft.

Such a class is not unique to the University of Florida. See here for an article discussing the use of this method of teaching to spur creative thinking at a number of schools.

BYOB - Bring your own Brain

Law school presents a problem for one with a liberal arts background.

Liberal arts developes core values by providing each student with freedom to experiment, question, and explore ideas connecting his or her personal experience with the subject matter.

Law school, on the other hand, has no time for self-exploration. Students must keep questions within 10 seconds, and, in so many other ways, the way law is taught prussures students to use a conceptual template provided by an "expert" in lieu of their own self-created critical thought.

In sum, law school and liberal arts education present two different cultures. The first will fill your brain for you, and the second will patiently wait while you fill it yourself.

In other news, I continue to suffer culture shock.

Law School Grades

Generally law school professors do not like to discuss law school grades. When they do, professors often speak with ambivalence. "Grades do not matter...that much," they are apt to say.

This mixed message can be aggravating to an inquiring mind, one which simply wants to guage the prestige lost from receiving a C in Legal Writing.

The New York Times this morning added to the pile of evidence showing that grades do matter (generally).

I'll keep looking for articles/stories that illustrate why grades don't matter - it might take awhile.

A Good Equation

Law textbook +
Grassy field +
Warm weather =

Happy studying

How We Learn

Law School today:

In class we reviewed the common law rule of "claim preclusion." Claim preclusion is when a litigant is barred from bringing the same claim against the same party again. A simple rule, yes?

Well, after class a student asked the teacher to explain an informative diagram about claim preclusion left on the chalkboard. The teacher attempted to explain but could not, at least well enough for the student to understand.

Maybe you'll get it tomorrow, the teacher said.

The End.

Left behind

Do you ever get worried about being left behind?

I'm in law school, and I worry about being left behind every day.

If you asked my classmates, I bet they would say they also get worried about being left behind.

Can everyone get left behind? Do the people who are "ahead" also worry they have been left behind? If so, then this feeling bears a curious relationship with reality.

Validating quote from a famous person:

No one wants to be caught dawdling on the platform while the train is leaving the station; no one wants to miss out on the goodies at a time when the supply seems to be running short. Still, I think we need to ask ourselves...where is the line between...positive pragmatic vigorous determination to sieze the moment, and, on the other hand, a half-blind hurry driven not by joy or real commitment, but by the terrifying fear of being left behind? -- Peter Buffett, Life is What you Make it.