READERS OFFER SOME THOUGHTS ON IN-CLASS WEBSURFING:

I sit in the rear center of the classroom, so I can see most of the terminals in front of me.

The sophomores(my class) lost roughly half of those initially enrolled, which is about typical. John and Christy both believe that maintaining standards is paramount, so that is not an issue. By the middle of the first semester, it was obvious that about 6 students were surfing the net full time. Of those, only two survived the freshman year(and neither one is doing well this semester). I took a 2nd year class last spring with the then sophomores, and only one of them

surfed the net. He’s completely out now.

The new freshman class is the worst. It’s a very young class, with no old coots like me to provide stability. John teaches all the freshman level classes, and he was noting that most of the students are surfing the net constantly, even during tests. It shows in the work that is turned in, which is dreadful. Given the types of questions that I was being asked even in the last week(How do you draw a line at an angle?), it was obvious that these students were not paying attention during class. Granted, a few of them were merely hung-over every morning, but I estimate 17 of 23 will not make it. Of those, 15 are net-surfers. I’ve told John that I’m not going to worry about competition for jobs from this class.

What concerns John the most is cheating, which he is seeing at a very high rate in the freshman class.

The undergraduate / community college world is very different from law. No doubt we have some degree of cheating, but the essay exams that I give — which are usually open-book — stress reasoning, which makes cheating difficult. (The zero-sum world of class-ranking, though it has its downsides, also discourages other students from turning a blind eye to such things). I do, however, make a point of speaking the key parts of at least one exam-question answer sometime during the semester, for the benefit of students who pay close attention.

Another reader writes:

My 2 cents on law school success:

I think your correspondent is 80% right on paying attention in law school.

IMHO, the single most important thing to know to get good grades in law school is: YOU ARE NOT IN CLASS TO LEARN WHAT THE LAW “IS”, OR WHAT THE LAW “SHOULD BE.” YOU ARE THERE TO FIND OUT *WHAT THE PROFESSOR WANTS YOU TO WRITE DOWN ON YOUR FINAL EXAM.*

This has a few practical implications. First, the single best study method is anything which lets you see inside the prof’s thought processes. Read old 4-point exams to see what writing style he prefers, pull a couple of his articles for the same reason. (If he wrote one of the commercial outlines – goldmine).

Second, the second best method is paying attention in class, but specifically to see (1) how the prof approaches problems and (2) what the prof’s particular themes are. Is he interested in irreconcilable conflicts (e.g. justice/mercy, strict contract compliance/intent of the drafters), law and econ, “litigants’ stories”, or what?

(It’s worth mentioning that “law school realism” is defensible on something other than pure results. Lawyers are going into the world to learn to communicate with judges, juries, clients, opposing counsel, supervising attorneys, etc. Learning how to tailor a message to a specific audience is one of the key practical skills one can get out of law school.)

A bit cynical, but largely sound. On a more positive note, there’s this observation:

Personally, I love looking up stuff the guy up front is talking about as he talks. I think this could be deadly in Q&A sessions–it’s a new dimension to rapid response.

My brother sometimes assigns a couple of students to do just this in his history classes.

Another reader adds this less-positive perspective:

“Students who don’t pay attention in class are likely to do badly on the exam. That’s their problem, not mine.” Posted Jan 1, 2003 11:38pm

Unfortunately, it also turns out to be MY problem, too. I’m certain I’m not alone in the category of law students who would love to pay attention in class, and who hope to avoid looking dumb when called on, but are too often distracted by their peers’ web surfing, keyboard pounding, and mouse clicking to concentrate properly. Don’t get me wrong, I love the net and all that comes with it (blogs included), but perhaps wired schools should install some sort of on/off switch for the professors to control when teaching, so that the internet may be accessible when desired (e.g., for use as an instructional tool or some other useful purpose) and be similarly inaccessible when desired. You’re right, these are grownups, and they use technology at their own peril, but there might be more than their grades at stake – can’t we at least pretend that there’s still some value to education, as an institutional enterprise (inspiring young minds) apart from the grades=job equation? If a slight patriarchal nudge from you and other professors gets a few students’ minds off the net and into the classroom, I’d say it’s worth it.

Interesting stuff. My advice: sit in the front row! Then you won’t see the screens. As for the rest, well, by the time students are in law school, if they don’t care enough about learning to avoid distraction, then I’m not sure that I can help. (The undergraduate world is very different, but most undergraduates won’t be able to get into law school. Even at the University of Tennessee, a good but not top-level school, our median is the 75th percentile, and that’s among the self-selected group of law school applicants.)

But my laissez-faire attitude on this could change, with evidence. I’d be interested to hear more, especially from my law student readers.