Monday, June 28, 2010

Coddling Our Future?

I've been tad busy in the past month or so with personal issues and work load. Combining the two, basically, I effectively abandoned by blog for a while.

Anyway, I read this article from New York Times which made me laugh and then indignant. Basically, according to this article, because law students are having a hard time finding a job, law schools decided to pad everyone's grades. And just like that, everyone's grades are higher.

What disservice to students who worked hard and earned their grades! Comments to the article is pretty long. It's a quite a drastic measure from educational institutions. I guess I think that they should teach our future lawyers (and hopefully future leaders) to find their strength to fight through obstacles that life throws at them instead of coddling them. Hardship is life, and life isn't always rosy. Those who can get through the tough times will appreciate their job more and learn a little something called resilience. If law schools wanted to take a philosophical stance against grading, then they should (1) not have a curve and/or (2) get rid of all types of grades (pass/no pass, a-f scale, number scale, etc.). Otherwise, inflating grades just sends a message to the law students that they are entitled to something they have not earned. And coddling our future lawyers and leaders in a way that may harm them in the long run.