The torts professor paused class today to give an amusing view of the scaled grading process. Paraphrasing him:

"Your grade only reflects your performance relative to other class members on one exam on one day. Yes, 20% will get Cs, and 20% will get As.

"But if I took all the faculty of UCLA and gave them the exam, 20% would get Cs and 20% would get As.

"If I gave the exam to all Nobel laureates, 20% would get Cs and 20% would get As.

"There is no such thing as a 'hard' or 'easy' exam, since if you find it hard, chances are everyone else does too. The worst that can happen is on the basis of grades, you will be rejected by certain law firms for certain jobs. So what?"

I imagine there are some students who would take issue with the last bit. I thought it was a worthwhile reminder that the real downside of graduating from a top-flight law school is pretty slim.

09 Sep 04