As a law student myself, I feel I am in a unique position to criticize, analyze, and discuss the oftentimes obnoxious and incomprehensible behaviors and habits of other law students. As a not-so-casual observer in a three year case study, after a full two and a half long, long, years have elapsed, I have to hypothesize that, on the whole, law students suck. This, of course, is just a hypothesis and, it is possible, like all scientific study, that at some point or another, I may be disproven. But, allow me a little latitude to explain what I mean and let's see if you agree with the behavioral study I have undertaken.
For one thing, we (that is, law students) are competitive with each other and, with a few very small exceptions, everyone jealously guards that which they feel will give them the edge over all other law students. Whether that means study guides, late night emails to professors, or outlines from older students, these things are kept to oneself with no regard for anyone else. You think you have an edge? Well, you better keep it away from everyone else. We try to get everyone else to share their secrets with us, all while keeping our secrets close. You know the saying: Keep your friends close, and law students closer. Right? I mean, everyone knows that grades are on a curve and, if you are just able to do better than everyone else, you will get a good grade. So, really, grades aren't testing you against yourself or against the elusive 100% mark, your grade effectively pits you against everyone around you. So, you may be my best friend the rest of the time, but if I have a secret study guide from a student who I know got an A in the class that we are studying for, you're SOL. Friendship, in law school anyway, only goes so far.
We are also all incredibly Type A. We like to be in control of everything, including each other. We are so damn Type A that we Type A each other to death and it is nothing short of exhausting to spend a day in the presence of nothing but other law students. Sometimes, when I get home, I find that I enjoy watching mindless TV (Will and Grace is my fave: more on this later) or reading Cosmo in the bathtub, just to wind down and make my head stop hurting.
Probably the most obnoxious thing of all is that we all think we're right, and we're all already naturally argumentative, comfortable with confrontation and public speaking. So, if we have a silly little thought in our silly little heads, you're bound to hear about it. Also, as a matter of course, you are wrong. We don't generally listen to each other, but continue on in the happy assumption that whatever occurs to us is obviously right. We also like to offer these opinions at inopportune moments, including during class lectures. Every class has a person (or two or fifteen) who, when he (or she) raises his hand, the whole rest of the class cringes. What we don't generally acknowledge to each other is that we really don't want to hear anything that any of our classmates have to say, regardless of whether or not the person saying it is one of the people who induces dramatic eye-rolling with every self-absorbed syllable. When talking to non-law students, we frequently find ourselves frustrated with their lack of legal knowledge. And, after all, as far as we're concerned, legal knowledge is practically the only type of knowledge worth having, so the lack of knowledge is deplorable. (And, in our defense, I guess we SHOULD think that knowledge that we spent $100,000 to procure is somehow important and worth knowing.) We are unjustifiably baffled that there are people who don't know what 10(b)(6) is or what a class called "civil procedures" entails. We, the self-proclaimed enlightened ones, have to explain simple concepts, like that the bar is a two day long, six hour per day process that involves both a multi-state and a state-specific portion, but that we also have to pass the MPRE which tests legal ethics and also pass state-mandated character and fitness requirements. Simple stuff. Obviously. I mean, who DOESN'T know that? And you thought talking to a brick wall was diffcult. But you have a similar experience when you talk to a law student.
As a law student myself, I do feel uniquely situated to discuss law students as a whole. Who better to look in an unbiased way at a group of people to analyze their idiosyncrasies than a person who is a member of that group? I admit, I share some of these qualities: I am inclined to think that my opinion is the right one, and I am certainly incredibly Type A (just take a look at my planner, which goes everywhere with me, and you will know that). I also like to be in control (which means that I am less than stellar at group work of any kind and infinitely prefer to do things my own way). I talk loudly and freely, and sometimes (okay, well, a lot of times) that gets me into trouble. Sometimes I thought that it would behoove me to be more like my best friend/sorority sister/college roommate and just get along with people, to be friendly and easy going and generally hilarious, but, unfortunately, hilarity is not in my nature and neither is permanent friendliness. Sure, I'm easy enough to get along with for the majority of the people in my life, but there is a line that you can never push me past and, once I perceive that I have been slighted, I am not quick to forgive. Am I Mr. Darcy? It sure sounds like it. Hopefully Andy is my Elizabeth (but don't tell him that, he won't take too kindly to being called Elizabeth--only Jack McFarland gets away with stuff like that). Well, we all have flaws. I never said I didn't. But mine are certainly exacerbated by the two and a half years I have spent around nothing but people like myself.
As a demographic, law students are probably some of the most obnoxious and tiresome people on the planet. And the worst part? Many of us have no idea. Trust me, I know: I am a law student.
No comments:
Post a Comment