Law Professors, Law Schools

The (De)grading

Why do law professors hate grading so much?

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Law professors do not like grading. Come to think of it, I don’t think any professor likes grading. The reason is that grades have nothing to do with the learning process. They are an end result. All the learning has taken place in class, during study, or — if the exam is well written — on the final itself.

Professors like to focus on the learning aspect of legal education. They like to think about the law, try to get students to think about the law, and they like to think that the students are there solely to learn about the law. They also like to think that the subject matter they teach is so interesting that students just want to learn all of the information distributed to them.

End of the semester grading creates an abrupt paradigm shift. Students remind the professors that jobs are what matter. Ask any unemployed philosophy undergrad upon graduation about the value of the education. And employers look to imperfect screens as to a student’s ability. Law review? Top 10%? If you have those, your chances of being gainfully employed increase. Less than that, your chances go down substantially.

These are the things in the backs of the minds of students as they study, as they think about taking a final exam, as they constantly check for their grades, as they try to enjoy the holiday break but secretly are missing some of that relaxation as they await their grades, or think about the ones they received.

But law professors have jobs.   We have the luxury of thinking about the law free of the pains of a job search. It takes a great deal of discipline to sit and grade a massive amount of exams when the reward (or consequence) does not flow to you. The consequences flow to past students, ones who have already evaluated you.

Professors grade in this dichotomy between the world in which the students live and the world in which the professors would like to live.   I have explained before why it takes professors so long to grade. But there is another aspect to it. Every exam score is actually two grades: One for the professor and one for the student. Profs feel really good when students get it. We tend to blame the student when he or she does not. It’s the reverse of how students feel: The prof gave me a C, but I got an A.

Grading is the perversion of education. The grade is the goal for many. But the truth is: A grade is something that demonstrates how well you did on a particular day. It doesn’t define you as a person. A bad grade doesn’t mean you are stupid, or incapable of law practice. Most law schools are filled with stories of alums who excelled after mediocre exam performances. They had something to prove, and they did.

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Professors do not like grading for these reasons; all the while students hang on to hope until the grades post. Because the grades are everything outside of academia.

Professors, if you hate grading, then there are two ways to make you feel better about all of this.

First, make your exam a learning experience. Don’t just test students on what they know. Push them. Even if 99% of your students don’t catch on to the extra learning, you’ve justified your exam by making it a learning experience.

Second, make sure you take the time to encourage students to go over their exam with you. I don’t just mean explain why they deserved the grade. I mean explain to each student who comes to see you what he or she missed. Use that opportunity to teach, to encourage learning. It is also a wonderful opportunity to see what you didn’t communicate effectively. What was missed? How can you improve delivery of that information in the future?

I know some professors actively discourage students from meeting with them about exams. They hide. They reschedule appointments. They say “look at the sample answer and figure it out.” Those are guaranteed ways to do great disservice when an opportunity exists to teach.   What could be more (de)grading?

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In short, this holiday season (grading season), let’s put grading in perspective. Your students await their grades. Work hard to give them out. Then work just as hard to assure that they understand what they missed and where they can improve. Then, dear professors, you can focus on your true core value: Education.

LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here and on Twitter (@lawprofblawg). Email him at lawprofblawg@gmail.com.

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