The fallout from Prof. Osler’s recent post seems to be subsiding, and I’ve already added my two cents over on his site. But, hey, I’ve go my own space, and I can throw in a buck fifty here. So here’s my last few additions to the cacophony.
First, Baylor Law is hard. I like that it’s hard. I don’t think the school should apologize for it, and in fact we take pride in it. Good. When you get a good grade here, you feel like you’ve accomplished something. And I don’t want that feeling to ever go away. Nothing is handed to us here, we have to earn it. That makes our experience all the more valuable. I think any criticism of Baylor and its administration should keep this overall point in mind. We came here because it was hard.
I also believe that administration does listen to its students. Last year, they had meetings with groups of students from each class to get their opinions on Baylor. Hell, Osler was the guy who guided our discussion. Not only was it a good program to reach out to the students to give us a voice, it gave us a perspective on the choices administration has to make. There isn’t an unlimited amount of money, and the school has to make tough decisions sometimes. In order to raise our school’s rankings, they’d have to do things which would negatively impact our education (cue Alanis Morrisette), like spending more time writing academic papers and less time teaching us.
I’ve said what I’m gonna say regarding grades. I would like to see a B+ added to the grade scale, and a different valuation for an A- or B-. But I’m not staying up nights about it. And I do agree if we’re going to have lower GPA’s as the last vanguard against grade inflation, the school needs to do a better job of educating employers. I’m not sure why that has to fall entirely on the CSO.
The biggest thing is respect. Everyone's complaints comes down to this. The administration needs to respect the hard work the students put in every single day. And the students need to respect the administration’s hard work as well. You can’t bitch about being disrespected and in the next breath blindly bash the CSO, the Dean’s office, or some anonymous professor. Respect is a two way street. And I’ve never encountered a professor at Baylor who did not want their students to succeed. Our professors may break us down, but they do build us back up. If you’re busy carrying a grudge from the time Trail made you look stupid in your first quarter, you’re missing out on an important part of your education.
I do think little things mean a lot. Osler’s blog allows us to see professors as people. So does the WJC’s facebook page. Those things do build bridges between faculty and students, even though it doesn’t seem like it. But if you have a problem with something the administration does, go into their office and voice your concerns. The Dean’s on the second floor. Faculty on the third. They’ll listen. Anonymous bitching gets you nowhere, and it’s just toxic. Be constructive. And have respect for each other.
Just my opinion. And I know this is odd coming from me if you know me well, but we all need to stay positive. Negativity fosters distrust. We all have the same goal, to make Baylor Law the best law school on the planet. We’re all on the same team here.
So let's go out there an run up the score on some poor directional school.
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