Summer Vacation Part 2: Halls... Erm, Sidewalks of Power

[attackfish]

After a week of small children and near constant jokes about my glow-in-the-dark pale skin, I wasn’t all that unhappy to leave my siblings and cousins behind and head up to Washington DC with just my parents for a little site seeing and law school scouting.

FISH: I can just feel the power, the history, and the lies.
MOM: They call that humidity, dear.
FISH: Well I can smell it!
MOM: They call that diesel exhaust.

This wasn’t supposed to be one of those restful vacations.  I got the rest out of the way the week before in North Carolina, with all that sand, salty air, and cloudy skies.  This was a vacation that had been scrupulously planned out ahead of time, including multiple calls to my US Senator’s office and highlighted maps of the metro.  This was to be the ultimate of all geeky vacations for a policy wonk and history buff.  It was, too, even if the wonky buff’s unusually brainless.

I saw the C street house!  I have a picture of myself in front of it!

I also of course went to the White House, the Supreme Court, the Pentagon, the Library of Congress, and the Capitol building, but who wan’s to hear about that?

And I sat on one of the chairs in the Green Room, because, as I said, I’m an unusually brainless wonky buff.

FISH’S FEET: *throb*
FISH’s HEAD: *aches*
CHAIR: *is very pretty and green*
FISH: Chairs, on our side of the ropes, oh thank God! *sits down*
AIDE: Each of these chairs costs several thousand dollars just to reupholster
FISH: I’m sitting on money!
MOM: *kicks Fish*

As it turned out, I was about to have a seizure, and I act really wierd before those, so I can’t be held responsible for my actions.  I managed to wait until we were in the Library of Congress to have it though, and I got taken away in Dick Cheney's usual ambulance.  All I can say is no wonder that man’s still alive.  These guys are good!

My seizures are always stressful on my mom, because she has to hold me down while I try to fight her off.  She has a way of dealing with this stress.

MOM: Of course, you know, this means chocolate.
DAD: We have chocolate back at the hotel.
MOM: Not enough!
DAD: There’s chocolate at the Whole Foods near the hotel.
MOM: Not enough!
DAD: I saw a chocolate shop back that way.
MOM AND FISH: NEED MORE CHOCOLATE!

Chocolate, the cure for the common seizure.

As for law schools, I’ve fallen in love with a few, but that’s two years away, at least.  I’ve also found out that certain American Bar Association requirements are horribly ablist, but I think if I get myself into really good health...

The last day, we spent resting, and touring the monuments.  We walked along the reflecting pool, discovering that all of the ducks had spawned, and there were itty bitty baby ducklings everywhere.  Ducks may be mean suckers, but ducklings are adorable.

Burned out and still feeling the after affects of the seizure, I just sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a while, taking in the view and marveling at how pretty and green everything was.  New Mexico is beautiful.  It’ll take your breath away if you give it half a chance, but it’s not pretty.

FISH: Man, it’s so pretty up here.
MOM: If you fight a civil war and reunite a country and free millions from bondage, you can have the best view in the city too.
FISH: Move over, Mr. Lincoln.

Anyway, by the time the vacation came to an end, I was really eager to get home to my dogs, birds, bed, and internet access.  Unfortunately, if my dad gets his way, I may be travelling a lot more often.  My oxygen consentrator gets me and my entourage all the cool perks, and he wants to take shameless advantage.

Comments

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

I'm in law school, and a disabled student, so now I'm worried. What rules did you find that were problematic?

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The ones that say only four absences a class per semester, no matter how good you are at keeping up when sick, which for people like me with episodic illnesses is one hell of a hurtle.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, yeah. One of my friends in law school has cancer and so she only takes one or two classes a semester, and that rule has made her have to drop classes. In law school, attendance is very important because of the participatory nature of class (Socratic method). It's not about keeping up, you can do all the readings, but it's the in class stuff that's really important. It's not something you can "keep up" with.

But talk to the deans, they must have dealt with the issue before and we have disabled students at my school, so it can be made to work.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I did, at the schools I went to, and they said it was nonnegotiable because it wasn't up to them, and I should rethink my career choice. There are online law schools, but not a single one of them is accredited by the ABA, which seems like another ablist requirement to me. So you're not learing the material the same way. You're still learning it.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Have you tried calling up the ABA themselves? They often can help talk to schools.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't. As of yet, they've been a huge, faceless entity to me. I have to try that.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

It's worth a try. Don't give up on your dream.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I have no intention to!

usually I just make private arrangements with teachers not to mark me absent :)

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Just be careful. In law school, you can be disbarred for lying to the ABA. If that ever comes up, you can't become a lawyer.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Oh my God! *shudder*

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

I know, it's completely illogical and punitive. And both the teacher and student can be punished. The restrictions are more like the Spanish Inquisition. Before you take the bar, they do a full background check. Also, most students are cutthroat in law school. If they notice you are absent a lot, they might rat you out to the ABA. They did it to my friend with cancer, and got her into a lot of trouble. And if a teacher fakes the attendance sheet, they can be disbarred.

Please be careful, you're brilliant and I want you to succeed and be my colleague.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And of course the ABA is effectively legally untouchable. Aww, how clever! Well, I think I can pass a background check, unless they hold my possibly on record mutterings against me. Well, I'll be calling them up and getting all my ducks in a row and on record then. Wow. They get you coming and going.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a law student, I think the ABA needs serious and DEEP reform. Law school has become obscenely expensive, and increasingly classist. It is not flexible or learning disabled friendly, many professors are horrible and hide behind tenure and there is no requirement for teachers to have any law experience, and the attendance requirement are unjustly punitive to EVERYONE who exists on Planet Earth. Say you get into a car accident, and end up in the hospital for two weeks. That's four classes right there. Who cares if that was just you know...not anyone's fault? If Dungeonwriter Law school existed, I'd be in favor of attendance policies being on a case by case basis, and perhaps providing two make up sessions a month. I do not think it's that much effort to ask teachers to do three extra hours a month (or less, as needed) for students to catch up.

So let's say there are 28 sessions and you have an ABA requirement of 4 sessions mandatory. (meaning 24) Dungeonwriter Law mandates eight make up sessions. (Two per month) So if you're absent seven times (21 classes), but attend the make up 3 make up classes (made to be flexible and those to be held online but only for good reason. Chronic or sudden illness, family emergency, we're all adults here, we can act like it) you are fine. In fact, you can miss up to eight sessions and as long as you have good cause, you're fine. In emergency cases, the 8 can be extended to 10 or 12, but that provides a cushion without unduly burdening the teacher. An extra 24 hours a year at most is not that much of an undue burden and teachers can share the burden.

(for example, all the Criminal law teachers alternate months, since there are usually three at each school, we're asking for an extra 8 hours a year at most. In a 30 week school year, not counting vacations, we're asking for an extra 16 minutes a week from teachers)

But who would listen to me?

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Having never been to a law class yet, I can't speak as to the feasibility of these, but they sound good to me. This method would not only supply students with the necessary knowledge, but also with the particular type of learning environment the Bar wants to see. I still think there needs to be some way for students with social anxiety and other psychological problems that make class discussion almost impossible. Some of them surely want to be non trial lawyers, after all and have fine legal minds.

It's an unsurprising shame that gaining a law degree, a major asset in fighting systemic oppression, is frequently made nearly impossible by that same systemic opression.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Fish, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but law school classes are made to cause social anxiety. Socratic method forces a student to his/her knees.

Example:

"Miss Fish, please please orally brief for the class the first of the assigned cases in our casebook, 'X against Y.'"

You must rise and answer:

They proceed to ask you the following questions. Most likely, all of them.

Why are you saying that X failed to_____ ?
What exactly does (insert legal term) mean?
What do we already know about (insert law)?
Can you give me an example of it in previous case law?
Are you saying ... or ... ?
What else could we assume?
You seem to be assuming ... ?
How did you choose those assumptions?
Please explain why/how ... ?
How can you verify or disprove that assumption?
What would happen if ... ?
Do you agree or disagree with ...
Why is that happening?
How do you know this?
Show me ... ?
Can you give me an example of that?
What do you think causes ... ?
What is the nature of this?
Are these reasons good enough?
How can I be sure of what you are saying?
Why is ... happening?
What evidence is there to support what you are saying?
On what authority are you basing your argument?

And I'm not done. This can go on for 20 minutes, and if you get it wrong, people will either raise their hand and try to show you up, or the teacher will let you go on and then yell at you and demand you try again.

My friend fainted during it. Students will vomit, shake and get terribly anxious during it. I can't imagine what a student with anxiety would go through.

So yeah, class discussion is the least of the concerns. Some teachers have dropped the method, so ask the dean to help you get them.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I have a form of social anxiety, though, fortunately, academic discourse seems to be an exception. I just get mad, which has it's own set of disadvantages. On the other hand, some of the smartest people I know would crumble, which seems like a poor way to do it. Any system which is set up to traumatize is automatically exclusionary to people with mental illness, and potentially causing of it in some people, and it really doesn't have to be that way.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

It's just cruel. We've stopped beating children in school, we can stop torturing students as well. One of my friends S has anxiety and a teacher did it to her. She burst into tears and the teacher kept on grilling her, even as poor S choked on her tears. Learning should be a pleasant, emotionally fulfilling environment. I mean, most lawyers do hold people's futures in their hands, you'd think traumatizing us would be a bad idea, you want us to be happy people who care about others.

You're right. It can be so much better. We're using the same methods as we did 70 years ago. I'm Jewish, tradition rocks, but some traditions are worth tossing.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

This is not the way to get someone to love Law and want to respect it. More than that, it's not the way to get someone to learn excessive anxiety actually prevents long term memory formation. Marrally and pragmatically, it's the wrong way to do things.

Actually, corporal punishment is still practiced in US schools, and worse, at some schools, the typical form is designed specifically to cause as much public humiliation as possible. Shows a lot about what our country's values are, doesn't it?

Ah, but tradition should never be blindly followed *says the Reform Jew*