The Joys of Class(less?) Discussions:

Often in college, I didn't care for class discussions. Now, not all the time. Sometimes, they were fun and lively, but they also tended to be the same handful of people talking all the time, saying the same exact thing over and over and over again. Well, the law school class discussion is a definite upgrade.

Sure, some people talk more than others. That's to be expected. But I wouldn't say that discussions are dominated by the same people. Also, people don't just echo the same point ad infinitum. (I wanted to bring "snaps" to discussions, but alas, was denied. Luckily, they haven't really been needed). Instead, it tends to be an engaging discussion, usually well-facilitated by the professor. And if you have Professor Weinreb, it can be a lot of fun.

Allow me to illustrate. For those of you who don't have the immense privilege of having Prof. Weinreb for Criminal Law, imagine your prototypical "old-school law professor." This is a man in his 60s, dressing in a suit every day, sometimes tweed. He calls everyone Mr. or Ms. He uses a form of the Socratic Method, but in a friendly, way, not the "I'm here to make you cry and regret attending law school." Polite. Professional. Ok? Good. Now, let me paint a picture from today's discussion on rape:

Professor Weinreb poses to us the following scenario. Imagine you're a prosecutor, and your witness comes to your office. She is wearing a dress that looks like it was poured on. Obviously, what clothes she is wearing now are not relevant to her testimony. Now, Professor Weinreb poses this question:

"Do you want to get her out of that dress?"
*Pause*
Class loses it. Laughter for several minutes. Everyone asking: "Did he just say what I think he said?" Admitting his Freudian slip in good humor, he moves on. You can't make these moments up.

Later, a few of us went out to lunch with him, and he tells us how (pleasantly) surprised he was after how "sophisticated" our class conversation was today. Now, this isn't the "traditional" form of sophisticated conversation, but we understood what he meant. After all, some of the comments in class included things like: "Any good prostitute knows that you get the money first" or questions like "Can the victim admit evidence that the sex was bad the first time, thus making it less likely she would have consented again?"

Now, I'd like to see your class discussion do that.