I think you've seized on a quirk in the way I chose to compose my final sentence; I'm not primarily concerned with being sure my thoughts are valid. But I see your point.

-- MichaelHolloway - 06 Feb 2009

Michael, did you notice how many times you said "sure" in that last paragraph? I don't think we need to be "sure" of the mechanisms by which our participation adds value, and I don't think there needs to be a theory to validate it. I know I have had enough times - and I'd imagine many others have had a similar experience - when something has been said in class discussion that either inspired me to look further into a topic, caused my mind to ricochet to something else that was enlightening, or what-have-you. I often feel as though one of my problems is the need to feel "sure" about something before it comes out of my mouth, but I don't think the amount of importance I assign to that actually matches up with its importance in life or in our class.

-- MolissaFarber - 06 Feb 2009

It seems worth mentioning that the forms of social control we discussed in class today -- the forces we all feel regulating our behavior, depsite the absence of particular agents we can point to as their source -- probably pertain to our discussion here of when we speak and when we keep silent in the classroom. (What can we do with this idea?)

On a different, but (I think) pertinent note: I have to admit that I'm not quite sure what classroom discussions are supposed to achieve. I never have been. (A fact that probably impacted my performance as a teaching assistant a few years back.) The model we follow seems to involve a clash of ideas put forth by a room full of Arnold's "thinking men," out of which a greater truth arises for the benefit of all involved. But I don't really think it works like that; it's not how people actually communicate. (Any communication theorists in the room?) Which isn't to say class discussion isn't valuable; I'm just not sure how best to participate, because I'm not sure how best to add value, because I'm not sure in what ways class discussion is valuable (which I suppose might differ for different people).

-- MichaelHolloway - 05 Feb 2009

I'd like to respond to Leslie/Molissa's response to my response.

Leslie, quoting you: "it seems to me that your list omits one clear benefit of voluntary participation: engaging in an exchange of ideas for their own sake, or because it's interesting (or was formerly) to communicate with our peers and thereby to investigate our own thoughts about society, justice, etc. What an idea! Speaking (and listening to others speak) in order to communicate! The problem seems to be that law school is not a community of scholars, but one of distilled individualistic striving. A competitive environment makes openness and trusting communication difficult. So one question might be: who has created this environment? And one obvious answer might be: who else, if not we ourselves?"

I did omit this "benefit" from my list, precisely because the environment of law school prevents this "benefit" from being "beneficial." I agree (ideally) that we should all strive to share material and learn as much as possible. But is this possible where we are graded on a strict curve? I don't claim to be an expert on how to run a law school, but it seems to me that a curve incentivizes the restriction of knowledge. You take what the professor says and try to understand it as deeply as you can (and hopefully more than your fellow classmates), while avoiding to provoke insightful discussion. Why? Because if you provoke insightful thought, your classmates might get even deeper and better ideas than you have thought of, and thus, you have potentially shot yourself in the foot. Because if there is some sort of game theory, the fellow classmate who has grasped your insight with deeper clarity than you did will horde the gem of knowledge for him/herself. Thus, it results in the unfortunate effect that the more knowledge that is shared, the larger the amount of work you will have to do to best your neighbor. By no means am I a gunner, nor do I purposely horde knowledge for myself. But you can see why this analysis might apply to some.

Of course, my list is not all inclusive, and there is a lot of stuff I'm sure I missed. But in this instance, I happen to think the nature of law school neutralizes this particular "benefit", when benefit to the class is detrimental to the self.

-- AlexHu - 05 Feb 2009