Religion & Law

In a recent issue of First Things magazine, Gilbert Meilaender has a review of Stanley Fish's new and much-remarked book, "Save the World on Your Own Time."  As has been widely observed, Fish's book is, among other things, an argument that the task of university teachers is instruction, not formation.  "I haven't the slightest idea," Fish says, "of how to help students become creative individuals.  And it is decidedly not my job to produce citizens for a pluralistic society or for any other. . . .  To be sure, some of what happens in the classroom may play a part in the fashioning of a citizen, but that is neither something you can count on . . . nor something you should aim for."

I know that, when I reflect on what I see as my "vocation" as a law teacher, I *do* emphasize my aspirations to contribute helpfully to the formation of my students and to the integration of their lives.  Am I wrong?  (For my own "take" on the connection between education and "soulcraft," take a look at this essay.)