Legal Realism Redux

If you have been paying attention, you probably are aware that the United States Supreme Court is hearing two cases related to gay marriage this week. About ten days ago, we learned that Senator Rob Portman (Ohio - Republican) has made a change of heart on the issue after his son told him he was gay. Just yesterday, the internet was abuzz with the news that Chief Judge John Roberts' lesbian cousin will be attending these hearings. This is on top of the articles, discussing Justice Scalia's "fear" of gays and lesbians.

All these events together cause me to think that perhaps legal realism, the idea that the justices personal values, beliefs, and experiences shape their jurisprudence, maybe is more telling than some of the fancy legal theories that scholars use to explain the Court's decisions. I know that when I was researching legal responses to racial discrimination, it always seemed like Justices never quite knew what to make of race-based claims in part because they drew almost exclusively on their experiences when making decisions. I came to think that judges took "judicial notice" (i.e. took their own perceptions as fact) when faced with racial claims.

It seems like many court-watcher think that may be happening now in these gay marriage cases. Does this signal the return of legal realism? I am not sure, but I do hope that the Chief Justice's cousin is correct when she says she trusts him to make a fair and just decision.

Spring Cleaning

Because my Spring Break and the beginning of Passover coincided this year, I found myself doing a lot  of cleaning over the past few days. While never a fan of cleaning, I nonetheless found that I enjoyed, relatively speaking, this year's efforts. I probably liked it because I found a treasure trove of my old baseball cards. Now, I am able to give my 1970 Pete Rose, 1970 Reggie Jackson, and 1975 Hank Aaron to my boys. 

The ritual, however, also got me thinking about the importance of spring cleaning for maintaining our moral commitments and locating our values. There is something about cleaning out drawers and de-cluttering our houses that seems like a metaphor for the more important effort of re-calibrating our moral compasses each year. It is too easy for our us to loose track of our real values as we surrender to the rush of our ordinary responsibilities. 

In addition to a few days off and a cleaner bathroom, I think I have gained a little bit of needed perspective from my Spring Break.

Fresh Perspectives

This semester I am teaching three new preparations: ENGL 200 Literature Matters: The Evolution of Storytelling, ENGL 219 The Lawyer in Literature and Film, and ENGL 493 Senior Seminar: The Best Writing of 2012.

What I am not teaching is anything related to African American culture, Popular Music, or Ethics. Given those have been mainstays in my course rotation and where most of my research interests lie, it is  a strange semester. Probably more than most semesters, I can relate to students,who are overwhelmed and baffled by so many new ideas.

I am both working harder in the classroom than I have in awhile and less certain of where my classes are going. I feel like I am learning with my students every day. What a great feeling! It is also an absolute pleasure to watch my ENGL 200 students dig into literary analysis with such gusto. So far, they have thoroughly enjoyed 1984 and a unit on classic fairy tales.


On the other hand, I am realizing a few things about the courses and topics I usually teach. First, talking about race every semester is very draining and exhausting. I am constantly dancing on the fine line between pushing students to see how race structures our world and creating a positive environment to do that kind of reflection. It is weird not to be doing that kind of work. I must admit that these other courses seem much more selfish in that they do not push students as much to have a social conscience. This may seem strange but this break from teaching African American literature seems like another example of white privilege. I can get a "break" from the national dis-ease about race and racism, but most African Americans cannot!

Second, teaching about popular music is "easy" in the sense that students always have something to say even if they have not done the reading. They bring their own theories and ideas into the class and have a wide range of musical experiences to discuss. I miss that. I wish students had as much background in other topics and as much passion. The downside to this knowledge and passion, I am realizing, is that students are less willing to hear and think through the theories that scholars have developed to analyze popular music. For some reason, students are a bit more willing to give a literary theory or analysis a fair hearing before evaluating it.

Third, a semester without teaching ethics means that I am missing the opportunity to revisit some of the classic moral issues. I feel less "ethical" simply because I am not thinking about ethical dilemmas and grounding my own habits, actions, and decisions in an ethical theory. I will be excited to teach ethics again next spring.

This semester has been a blessing. It has given me a new perspective and gotten me out of my comfort zone. I am reading different books and thinking about new things. How very liberating!

MOOCS and the Three Year Degree

A few years ago, the Higher Education community was discussing how we could reduce the cost of higher education if we could create three-year degree programs. I remember that Time published articles about it from Lamar Alexander, George Miller, and others. Universities started to draw up plans to create new three-year tracks. As you might guess, the idea fizzled mostly because students were not really interested in working that consistently (i.e. over the summers and through Winter break). For the past 18 months or so, MOOCs are the new three-year College degree program. Actually, this idea has had more energy and financial support. While some of my students have graduated in three years even without the creation of official three-year degree tracts, I anticipate that some of my students will take MOOC courses. For my highly motivated students, this will work out well. For the majority, I don't think the massive online format with minimal instructor contact will satisfy the needs and wants of my students. My students (who are mostly traditional students between the ages of 18 and 24) want faculty-student interaction, student-to-student interaction, and find that the time and spatial demands of the "seated" class are generally more favorable than other formats. None of the above should be read as a full or effective rebuttal to the growing cost of higher education. That, especially as student loans become the primary way students pay for higher education, is a real problem. I just don't see MOOCS as a viable or effective solution to the cost problem, just as the three-year degree track never really met the needs of students.