It’s Tuesday morning, and you know what that means: I’m back in The Class. Yup, that one–with the Highlighter Happy Prof, the Self-Deluded Expert On All Things Related To This Legal Area.
Our final project was due at 8:00 a.m. today. That means we are, for all intents and purposes, done with this class. Done. Finito. There is no further purpose that can be served by our attendance in the class, as no information we gather can be put toward any furtherance of our education or grade.
As a result, Professor Highlighter has made our attendance mandatory. Today and Thursday, we must sign a sheet with “our full names” to indicate that we did indeed drag our butts to class to waste our time at her behest, and if we do not, she will lower our final grade in the class by 1/2 letter grade per absence per team member (we did our final project in teams).
Then, because she was merely teetering on the edge of Purely Ridiculous, she took a huge leap into that realm by forcing us to go around the room and have each person “give an idea” from the project that she would then write on the dry erase board.
Why? Our papers are finished and handed in. No matter what gets mentioned or written on the board, it is physically impossible to actually do anything with that information. It is as if she thought to herself, “My class has bordered on useless. What can I do to ensure that my students are forced into totally wasting their time this last week, when they are all extremely busy and stressed out with finals? I know–I will make their final projects due, and then we will discuss them! YES!”
She is the Harry Houdini of the educational process: just when you think she may be trapped within a potentially educational moment, she manages to wriggle out of it and appear magically back in the realm of Utter Uselessness. It’s impressive.
We’re in my row now… I think my contribution will be, “I do not give a tiny rat’s ass. And my project is labeled only with a confidential student number rather than my name, so you cannot do squat about my attitude. By the way, I hate your highlighter.”
She began class by telling us how she would be delayed in grading our papers, because she must leave immediately from class on Thursday to go to a “four-day long drafters’ meeting” taking place in High-Falutin’ Ego, Wisconsin, or something like that. Why can you not just say that you’re not certain when you’ll get the grading done, and you’ll email us when it’s finished? Why throw in the “I have meetings with Very Important People who are entirely reliant upon my vast expertise, and as such, I simply don’t have time to dilly-dally with your papers. Which are, actually, beneath my level of knowledge and importance.” Oy.
It is clear that her purposes are nothing short of nefarious. Her class has become a mere exercise in shenanigans, rather than serving any truly useful purpose.*
*This paragraph is dedicated to one Mr. Ruff. He knows why.
Labels: anecdotes and opinions, law school
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I’m Marissa, can-do-ologist, perpetual Curious George, and daily adventurer. 
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ROTFL
You know, this made me think of one beloved professor back from the IU Religious Studies department. He wore silly ties every day. Things like Yellow Submarine, paisley, various cartoon characters, etc. Why? “A tie is a ridiculous article of clothing, so I wear ridiculous ties.”
My point is this: Answer inanity with buffoonery. Your attendance is required? Show up with a crossword puzzle. You have to contribute an idea from the project? Write down the first sentence the group says verbatim. But hey, that’s just me…