Plus, a number of the, uh, more delicate social factions have convinced law schools that the gung ho approach was scaring away easily intimidated, yet otherwise perfectly capable potential barristers. As a result, many professors have junked the Socratic method for straight lecturing. To me, the decline of the Socratic method is somewhat disappointing. Which is not to suggest law schools have degraded into entirely useless three-year rites of passage, where restless idealists bide their time until they have accumulated enough credits to take the bar exam. On the contrary, law school is the lion's den of competition.
Law students tend to be edgy, confrontational, short-tempered and suspicious.
This is a cutthroat business. Thousands of dollars are at stake, and there's only one way to win. Grades are to law students what profits are to a business. They are everything. Good students eat, drink, sleep, breathe and dream grades.