Legal Commentary

Paul discussed, a few months ago, Stanley Fish's new and much-remarked book, "Save the World on Your Own Time."  The review of Fish's book in a recent issue of First Things magazine, by Gilbert Meilaender ("Education and Soulcraft") got me thinking more about Fish's 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." 

As a good right-winger, I suppose I should be delighted by a Fishian take-down of hyper-PC modern-university follies and academics' self-importance.  Still . . . I cannot deny that, when I reflect on what I see as my "vocation" as a law teacher, I *do* aspire to (among other things) contribute helpfully to the formation of my students and to the integration of their lives.  Obviously, self-awareness and humility are required here.  Still, am I wrong?  (For what it's worth, and for my own "take" on the connection between education and "soulcraft," take a look at this essay.)

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