Cultivating intelligence

Louise Harmon and Deborah W. Post, one Black and one white, take a close look at what it is like to teach law today. Their conversation reads as a updated take on The Paper Chase, following two women academics who hold a place in a profession still dominated by white, male, and traditional voices. Their approach follows the path of Patricia Williams's The Alchemy of Race and Rights, using personal exchange to examine what difference means for them and for the university. One favors metaphor and the other favors narrative, and both wrestle with teaching as women, as members of a minority group, and as activists.

Much of the dialogue grows out of the debate over The Bell Curve. The authors connect intelligence and cognitive theory to professional education and question the purpose and methods of legal teaching. They revisit the influence of Christopher Columbus Langdell, who founded the modern law school and could not have pictured the varied student bodies on campuses now.

The discussion raises pointed questions. How do people learn? How can critical thinking be taught where hierarchy is deeply rooted? What happens when a professor with a relaxed, conversational style faces more than a hundred students in a lecture hall? Why do the most engaged students often struggle on exams?

The result is a candid portrait of women in academia, with the tensions, doubts, and practical difficulties that any thoughtful teacher must face. It will interest law faculty, legal educators, and anyone curious about how students learn and how professional schools shape them.