What Not to Do

As exams approach, stress and frustration levels are rising at law schools across the country. Of particular annoyance to many are classes that were so boring or poorly taught as to make any time spent on them seem a waste. Nonetheless, I highly recommend that you not send an email like the one apparently sent by a NYU 1L to her criminal law professor and the entire class (I've removed all names to protect whatever shred of privacy remains):

as one of the self-admitted "people [who] seemed to spend the entire class time doing things unrelated to the class on their computers," i just wanted to respond to your email and thank you for keeping the exam length at 24 hours. while i voted for an 8 hour exam in class, upon further reflection i have changed my mind and decided that a longer exam period will most benefit me, as a non-participant, in attempting to write a semi-coherent exam.

i would also like to comment generally on my dissatisfaction in the first year law school educational experience as a whole. it has seemed to me to be more of a mind-numbing training procedure than an enriching intellectual experience. your class, however, stands out as a particular disappointment.

may i respectfully suggest that perhaps having an instructor who seemed somewhat interested in actually teaching the material objectively and creating an even slightly welcoming classroom discussion atmosphere would have prompted both myself and the vast majority of the rest of the class to pay attention and participate rather than sending each other instant messages, playing online games, and checking our email.

if i may be so bold as to quote one of my fellow students, i believe [name redacted] summed this general issue up quite succinctly earlier in the semester. in response to your half-joking comment referring to your disappointment in students' clothing choices today as opposed to in the past, he said, "the professors used to wear suits too."

with this comment i merely wish to illustrate your personal role in creating an effective educational environment. personally, i was very eager to learn criminal law at the beginning of the semester. however, when it seemed that class was not going to help me much in attaining that goal, i decided to use the time to enjoy myself instead.

i apologize wholeheartedly if my blatantly obvious dissatisfaction with your class was offensive to you.

I mean, at least capitalize properly when chastising your professors. To do otherwise just makes you seem unprofessional.