the daily snivel
Curse you, time management skills!
So it turns out that I actually misread my on-line grades report (or maybe it was wishful thinking). My grade for Constitutional Law II was not, in fact, the "C+" I was expecting, but rather a remarkably respectable "B." Unfortunately, that means that the "C+" that did appear in the report was for Family Law, which was easily my favourite course in the winter term and something I really regret not doing better in. It does make sense, however. There were three questions on that exam, all weighted equally. I completed the first two and ran out of time as I began writing the third. Given that I got 66% complete, my "C+" effectively translates into having gotten those first two answers just about perfect. Crappily for me, I just didn't have time to write the third. So, as it turns out, I'm really clever at family law (and, for that matter, constitutional law), but I'm just an idiot when it comes to budgeting enough time to express myself properly.
On the other hand, I still have that "A" in Critical Race Theory to brag about, especially since that was the course I wrote my major paper in. You see, in law school, all students are require to write a 30-40 page major paper on a legal topic as part of their graduation requirements. It's common practice to take a course with a large, heavily weighted (at least 50% of the final grade) essay component, and elect to have that count for the major paper requirement. This is what I did for Critical Race Theory. I wrote a lengthy paper on the USA PATRIOT Act and its constitutional and procedural shortcomings in the face of the growing threat of domestic terrorism (including militias, white supremacists, and anti-abortion terrorists). Now I get to put that shiny grade for my major paper on my resume, and it will stand out prominently on my transcript.
So the moral of that story is: I need to take more essay courses next year if I want to keep my average high.
The other moral of that story is: If you write a major paper and you take out 10 books as a component of your research, take them back in time. I kept holding onto them, bitterly resolving to finish my essay first, and although I took them back in the first week of April, I now owe the library $107 in overdue fines. I was sort of consciously racking up the fine as a way of punishing myself for being a slowpoke, so my eyes were wide open about this, but still -- egads!
On the other hand, I still have that "A" in Critical Race Theory to brag about, especially since that was the course I wrote my major paper in. You see, in law school, all students are require to write a 30-40 page major paper on a legal topic as part of their graduation requirements. It's common practice to take a course with a large, heavily weighted (at least 50% of the final grade) essay component, and elect to have that count for the major paper requirement. This is what I did for Critical Race Theory. I wrote a lengthy paper on the USA PATRIOT Act and its constitutional and procedural shortcomings in the face of the growing threat of domestic terrorism (including militias, white supremacists, and anti-abortion terrorists). Now I get to put that shiny grade for my major paper on my resume, and it will stand out prominently on my transcript.
So the moral of that story is: I need to take more essay courses next year if I want to keep my average high.
The other moral of that story is: If you write a major paper and you take out 10 books as a component of your research, take them back in time. I kept holding onto them, bitterly resolving to finish my essay first, and although I took them back in the first week of April, I now owe the library $107 in overdue fines. I was sort of consciously racking up the fine as a way of punishing myself for being a slowpoke, so my eyes were wide open about this, but still -- egads!
