One of my friends predicts this will become the new bandwagon for law professors resulting in much hand wringing about "what we have done to the students." Maybe my friend is right but, if so, it goes down as just another well ....bandwagon. By that I mean no one was on board on the basis of principle but only became interested when they were sure the wind was blowing the right way. What can I say? Just another example of individual gutlessness.
There are lots of others. I could count on one hand the number of law professors who have raised the issue of exploitation and its racial bias when it comes to college athletes. I guess that bandwagon is stalled.
Another one is the deep concern about diversity. Yes, faculty will argue and spends gallons of stomach acid on how much diversity counts and who to hire for a full time tenure track position. On the other hand, literally thousands of adjuncts, lecturers, and other teachers are hired without even a nod to publicizing the position in order to attract diverse candidates. That bandwagon is also stuck in a rut. The same goes for the salaries of staff people.
As I have written many times before, the best argument against tenure for law professors is that they waste it. Of all the groups I have observed, law profs, men and women, must have the highest level of average prissiness per person.(APPP).
2 comments:
"Use it or lose it." Not a bad battle cry.
In the last analysis, education in general is tinged with upper-class values.
I just finished reading "Mario Cuomo: A Biography" by Robert McElvaine. Cuomo attended law school in the mid 1950s. He attended St. John's Prep, St. John's College, and then attended law school at St. John's.
On page 72, Cuomo reflected of his time in prep school:
"They were all one generation ahead of us," he told me. "They spoke the language; they had a more sophisticated cultural background than I did - all of them. They had done things and been places that I knew nothing of. I was just out of it. I could compete with them - better - at everything they were doing in the classroom, or on the ball field. But the cultural difference - I just didn't understand it."
In addition, he also graduated in a tie for first in his law class. Of course, none of the Wall St. firms hired him. According to this account, he did not even receive one corporate law firm interview. Once again, we see that one's race hinder one's chances at achieving middle or upper class entry - even when they show that they can beat the "best" at their game.
He was born to Italian immigrants, and he went on to become one of the most articulate, inspirational, and honest elected officials of the last 50 years. Regardless of where one leans on the political spectrum, one should at least respect Cuomo's stands and demeanor. Yet, he felt out of place at a prep school. This speaks volumes. (At least, he used his skills to try to improve the situation for those not at the top.)
Post a Comment