Restatement of the Problem

I started implementing my strategy for this round of examinations. This midterm, I have a different set of methods and techniques with a complementary set of rather ambitious objectives. This makes this midterm exams a very important challenge for me to hurdle.

In the past, I was just content to be on the defensive—that is, I was just aiming to get a passing grade on every subject. Until I can figure things out (i.e., how to be my best), a passing grade was good enough for me. I was trying to figure out how best to define or state the problem of learning in law school. And I needed the time to observe and conduct experiments.

I have a working theory developing in my head—the product of months of continually restating the problem. The only thing missing is proof that it works. But I am getting ahead of myself. First things first. What is the problem? Or more precisely, what are the problems of acquiring a legal education? These are the few that I considered in my research:

• Is the freestyle lecture method the best learning package for law school?
• How can learning in law school be measured?
• How can legal education be packaged and delivered to different types of law students?
• Can working law students be provided with portable learning packages?
• Can the typical study day of law students be structured more effectively for learning?
• Should law textbooks be redesigned or rewritten specifically for law school? How?
• How can law students be prepared or be trained to prepare for written exams?
• Do lawyers and judges necessarily make the best teachers?
• Are standardized tests less effective than the essay-type exam?
• How can standardized tests be used to improve proficiency in the law?

Translating my insights from several months of observations into a usable solution or set of solutions is now the kind of work that I face. It is engineering work and at the same time, it is also programming work. It would be two weeks before I will receive news of my success or failure in this endeavor. Although I am not averse to failure, I have to be candid and frank this time that I am very much interested to actually succeed.

Right now, I am aware that all the problems I have just enumerated can be reduced to simply getting high scores in the exams. So, naturally whatever promising insights I learned will have to be reduced into one single proof—consistently high scores in all my exams. And the burden of proof understandably falls on my shoulders.