Gunners Smunners

New-to-me blawger quasi in r.e.m. (not to be confused with Quasi In Rem) may be a gunner. I'm not sure what law school she's attending (it appears to be somewhere in the "bay area"), but wherever she is, her peers are at least lucky she realizes she may be a gunner. The first step to recovery is realizing you have a problem. I'm kidding, of course. I don't care about so-called gunners. We all learn in different ways, and while some people do just try to show off in class and monopolize the professor's attention, often these little tangents are more interesting than what might be happening otherwise, and I don't usually feel cheated by them. Worse than gunners, in my book, are people who come to class unprepared (and I'm definitely guilty of this) so that when the prof calls on them, they take forever to spit out an answer, one that is likely wrong anyway. And worse still are the profs that then basically bring class to a grinding halt to humiliate these unprepared people and highlight their lack of preparation by continuing to ask them questions until they admit they're unprepared. Some profs will even go beyond this, forcing the unprepared student to look up the answers while everyone sits there twiddling their thumbs. What pedagogical goal does serve? Stupid. So gunners, you go. Ask your questions and get what you need out of class; just recognize what you are and try to make sure your colloquy's w/the faculty are interesting or entertaining to someone besides yourself. Thanks.

Posted August 29, 2004 05:53 PM | law school