“Well, tests ain’t fair. Those that study have an unfair advantage.” – Allan Dare Pearce, Paris in April
“You can train your mind to not only handle the unease that comes from having to consistently act without having all the answers, but embrace and invite it as a signpost that what you’re doing matters….learn how to dance with the unknown.” - Jonathan Fields, Uncertainty
Final exams begin today and continue until May 15.
This morning’s message contains three separate messages to our students.
First, another special video message from our faculty and staff.
Second, my COVID-19 serenity prayer for final exams.
Third, reflections on a moment in history 5o years ago, when colleges and law schools closed throughout the country on May 4, 1970.
Special Video Message to our Students
Watch our video here: Final Exam Message From Faculty and Staff
COVID-19 Serenity Prayer for Final Exams
I wrote the below prayer for our students.
- God grant me the serenity to accept that this semester of disruption and stress has already tested me in ways I could not have imagined.
- The courage to lean into the uncertainty with strength, resilience, and optimism.
- And the wisdom to know that whatever the circumstances I face, I always have a choice on how to respond.
- Understanding that if I change the way I look at things, the things I look at can change.
- Realizing that sometimes we need to be set apart to feel together.
- Learning that it’s possible to physically isolate and digitally connect.
- Thanking our faculty and staff for pivoting overnight to remote teaching and support.
- Knowing that I have prepared the best I can from the confines and distractions of my home.
- Trusting in my skills and surrendering to an unshakeable belief in myself.
- Accepting that the exam doesn’t just test my knowledge, it tests my state of mind.
- Washing my hands, closing my eyes, and clearing my mind.
- Focusing on the moment, parking my worries and fears at the bedroom door, and visualizing success.
- Pacing myself, taking each question one at a time, and applying the law to the facts.
- Taking the exam as it is, not how I or others would have written it.
- Supremely happy that I am a student at a law school where we have each other’s back and we are in this together.
- Remembering that I have chosen to study and work during this time of my life like most people won’t, so that I can learn law and live justice like most people can’t.
Amen.
50 Years Ago, Today.
May 4, 1970. It was the day I decided to learn law and live justice. It was a warm spring day. I was a freshman at Oberlin College. A few days earlier, President Richard Nixon had expanded the Vietnam War by invading Cambodia. Anti-war college protests erupted throughout the country.
About 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the news hit us in the gut as we huddled around TVs and radios on our sheltered college campus. In just 12 seconds, 28 Ohio National Guardsmen fired over 60 shots at student protesters at nearby Kent State University. 9 students were wounded, one of them paralyzed for life; and 4 students were killed.
Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, Sandra Scheuer, Bill Schroeder. Bill Schroeder was a ROTC student watching the protest, shot in the back. Sandy Scheuer was walking to class. I didn’t know them, but I will never forget their names.
The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War. More than 900 colleges and universities closed. It was a reminder early in my life that we live in an uncertain and unpredictable world.
A Teachable Moment 5o Years Later
Now, 50 years later, in the midst of this COVID-19 public health crisis, we have an unexpected opportunity to use this uncertainty as a teachable moment.
Our students learn that often there are no clear answers and they must make decisions with less than certain information. We train them how to be resilient, thoughtful, and creative problem-solvers when there is less than a clear path to the other side.
Our current students will be even better prepared to face uncertainty than those students who came before them.
They will be even better prepared to live justice and change the world.
This Week’s Monday Moment: 22 Uplifting Songs to Get You Out of a Law School Final Exam Funk
If you missed CSU President Harlan Sands’ virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, April 29, you can see it here.
If you missed CSU President Harlan Sands’ virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, April 29, you can see it here.
Have a great day. Have a great week.
For copies of past messages, please go to this link: Monday Morning Messages.
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My views in all my Monday Morning Messages are my personal views alone and do not reflect the views of our law school or our university.
My best,
Lee
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