My name is Ben Carroll and I am a 1L at Roger Williams Law. I'm just a good 'ol southern boy from Knoxville, TN who has made his way to Rhode Island. I've got it all…The Southern accent; the hospitality. I even play the Banjo! I attended Tennessee Wesleyan, a small liberal arts college in Athens...
Well, its week 7 and I can finally say that I beginning to settle down into a nice 'ol routine. I remember originally stating I would do a blog every sunday...that worked out well. Anyway, to the news at hand.
I've settled into my classes quite well, if I may say so myself. What seems to be giving me the most trouble?
Legal Methods.
Got to love learning a new language...well...this is it. I find myself wearing myself down on the assigments for it and they aren't even graded! (by the professor at least) They are, however, evaluated, leaving me to grade myself. That points to something I would like to talk about...the gift of grading yourself.
That is, Law School is a lot of self-discipline. If you can't grade yourself, then, you will probably have a tough time with it. If you have the tendency to compare yourself to other people...don't. (I'm sure this is easier said than done though because I do it myself) I recall a sociological study on the behavior of people in traffic. When we are in traffic its always the other lane thats moving right?
Wrong.
Researchers found that, in general, if you stay in the same lane, then you will get there, as fast, and sometimes faster, than the lane next to you. The only reason we think the lane beside us is moving faster is because when we are stopped in traffic we naturally notice those things that are moving. I'd be willing to wager that the same rule applies for studying in Law School. Just because you see someone studying when you arent, does not mean, neccessarily, that they study more or less. It just means their studying and you aren't.
Seeing the facebook statuses of "in the library" and "studying my brains out!" are nonetheless intimidating when all the literature tells you to "STUDY ALL THE TIME." Yea...can't say I do it all the time, but Law School fills the days.
Im up at 8 and studying till 8, (save the weekends) it's not a full time job...I've had one of those. It's an epic journey of, dare I say, epic proportions, but more on that subject next week!
Till next time!
Ben Carroll - Class of 2014