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: Class Bias in Higher Education

Doing Chen Ups

By Jeffrey Harrison

Most people reading this blog get here via Moneylaw. If you have not read Jim Chen's latest post over there please do. There are two aspects of Jim's post that are important. One is his general message. As a former construction laboror and someone who pays attention to the background of his colleagues, I agree that you cannot fully appreciate a law teaching job and treat it as the privilege it is unless you have worked at the other end of the spectrum. I have written before that I think law schools would be well advised to hire people who have experience the other side of the socioeconomic line. I have nothing empirical on this but it would be interesting to study. The other part of this general point -- althought not made by Jim -- is the expectation those who have not worked hard expect those who are working hard to pay for their life time jobs of leisure. I am talking about the belief that there is justice in asking the convenience store clerk, secretary, tire shop worker, or bus boy to contribute to a lardass law professor's salary. One thing I have discovered in the world of law professors is an inability to feel shame.

The second aspect of Jim's post is not the message itself but his willingness to state his values and to let it be known whose side he is on. I have not worked at a law school with a dean that comes close to this. Evidently the prevailing "best practice" is to say nothing and certainly not to state what one's expecations are (of course this assumes there are expectations). Most deans seem to hide. Jim does not. What a breath of fresh air!!

Full post as published by Class Bias in Higher Education on February 16, 2008 (boomark / email).