We’ve all come to law school to learn, right? But sometimes our learning is interrupted by that student who distracts, irritates or just plain annoys us! You know what I’m talking about: the endless clicking pens and not-quite-surreptitious texting for an entire tutorial.
Here are a few of the classroom culprits I’ve come across this semester…
The Knee Bouncer
There’s always that guy (or girl) who sits at their desk bouncing their knee up and down like it has a mind of its own. It sounds like something small, but after nearly two hours of sitting at a desk that’s shaking like a leaf, you might find yourself plotting ways to chop that knee off and somehow get away with it...
The “but, but” Person
This person can fall into two categories. The first one is the person who wants to argue with the lecturer on EVERY point. “But (insert name) what about looking at it from this way...” or “but (insert name) what about this impact of this (insert obscure never heard of) case on (insert even more obscure) argument?”
The other category is the person who has either done their reading and not understood a single word of it, or has not done any reading but rather expects the lecturer to explain everything to them. “But (insert name) you haven’t explained that properly...” or “but that doesn’t make sense” (to me because I haven’t done the reading) or “can you clarify that again?” This ultimately annoys the hell out of the lecturer and they either respond to the requests and explain the points again, or they become so annoyed that what was a lecture on s109 inconsistency rapidly becomes a lecture on the importance of doing your reading!
The hot girl/guy/teacher
This isn’t exactly a bad distraction! But it is a pretty decent one, and every law class has them. Sitting in equity/trusts/civil procedure, your mind starts to wander... to that hottie over there in the corner.
The “always right” Person
There’s always that one person in your class who knows just that little bit more than everyone else and doesn’t hide it. They’ve read EVERYTHING on the reading list rather than just looking at case notes; they read the recommended but not compulsory reading and they try and answer EVERY question. This becomes a distraction as you sit in class mentally telling yourself off for not doing all the reading and promising yourself that you will do better next week and read EVERYTHING... knowing full well that you won’t because you like having a life outside the library.
If class participation marks are on the line, you’re even more stressed. Even if you have done the readings, you’ll probably never get the chance to demonstrate your knowledge because the Know-Itus Allia in your tutorial could probably give Hermione Granger a run for her money.
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