They do not control when they participate in class and on what subjects they give their views. Some of the harsher professors will humiliate students whose answers are not what the professor wants, which can be especially painful when the student is giving an answer in which he or she strongly believes. Our transformation into people who think like lawyers can be stressful in other ways. We find ourselves arguing with our nonlawyer friends and family in ways we never did before, and those around us become frustrated by our ability to turn their words around, split hairs, and win every argument. We even argue points for the sake of arguing them, even if we don't believe in their truth.
Some law students enter law school eager to step into the traditional adversarial role.
Others, however, enter law school with the goal of maintaining a critical distance, of entering the legal profession in order to change the law. For these students, the discovery that law school has succeeded in changing our way of thinking can be disillusioning. The problem for many students is that often the reasonable person our professors, legislators, and judges envision is really still a reasonable man, and a socially and economically privileged one. Another layer in the process of transforming law students into lawyers is the final examination. Since most law school grades are based entirely on a student's performance on one final exam, the exam period is a very stressful time for law students.