Grade Curves

I hate them.

I think they really only help employers and the few people who are the top of the curve.

A big reason is because they don't mean much (this has already been much discussed, I acknowledge). I have done better than many people, in many classes, who were more gifted than me. I think it has a lot to do with effort.

But a bigger reason that I don't like them is because it makes everyone do more than is necessary. We are all studying for finals at our law school. We should not know these subjects as well as we are learning them, there are more important things we could be doing. But, because we are all graded against each other we all feel the need to learn the material more than we ever should. Each person is trying to get even the tiniest, incremental advantage compared to his classmate. It is somewhat ridiculous.

It does, however, benefit the employers. They know who the people are who are willing to work all day and night; these are the same people who will be living at the law school. While being at the top of the curve does not mean that you are necessarily more intelligent than someone else, it does say who is willing to put in ungodly hours. The employers need to know this. Also, employers don't have much to go on. A one hour interview doesn't really tell you much about an employee. A grade from a curve gives the employer that much more to go off. Despite some people's opinions that they are incredible interviewers, there is only so much you can learn about a person.

So I am not a fan of the curve. Even if I did incredible and was in the top 10% of the class I would still say that it made us all work way too hard. We all just want to go home. I wish we could all make a pact to leave school before 9pm, but then one of us would decide to get the advantage over their classmate and stay later, then we are all back to the grind, all day and all night.

I want to be my own boss. I don't want to ever have to burn the midnight oil like this again.

I just want to hang out with my family.