Author Archives: legallysociable

Intentional grade inflation

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A story in the NY Times describes how at least 10 law schools have deliberately made their grades more lenient. The reason? To have their students appear more attractive in a weak job market.

[Loyola Law School Los Angeles]  is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.

In the last two years, at least 10 law schools have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. These include law schools like New York University and Georgetown, as well as Golden Gate University and Tulane University, which just announced the change this month. Some recruiters at law firms keep track of these changes and consider them when interviewing, and some do not.

The article also discusses other interesting measures including abandoning traditional grades and paying students to take unpaid internships.

Are we too incompetent to recognize it?

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A social psychologist stumbles upon an article about an incompetent bank robber:

As Dunning read through the article, a thought washed over him, an epiphany.  If Wheeler was too stupid to be a bank robber, perhaps he was also too stupid to know that he was too stupid to be a bank robber — that is, his stupidity protected him from an awareness of his own stupidity.

An interesting discussion with this professor, who developed the “Dunning-Kruger Effect.”

Bonus: talk about the usefulness of Donald Rumsfeld’s “unknown unknowns”!

Training a young American soccer star

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Two articles that disagree about whether young male soccer players in America should be going to Division One college programs to play. There are now many more female Division One soccer programs and they can offer more scholarships than men’s teams.

It has been my understanding that soccer is like baseball; college, for many, is a waste of time. (Baseball players have terrible education levels due to this common life in the minor leagues.) The best young soccer players in the world are often discovered before they are 15. College simply delays their development. Soccer has a sort of informal minor league system; young players play for lesser leagues (like MLS in the US or Division One or Two in England) before they are bought by a first-rate squad. American soccer players are only now consistently playing for better overseas squads, such as Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Landon Donovan in the Premier League.

For women, it is a different story. There is a professional women’s league in the US – but it attracts little attention and pays little. College offers good competition while getting an education. Outside of going on to play for the Women’s World Cup, many players may never see the attention they get in college.

1. The New York Times: How A Soccer Star Is Made.

2. Minding the Campus: Why U.S. Men’s Soccer Will Now Decline.

Tabling a legal career

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The ABA recently picked up a story about a third-year law student who has decided to pursue professional poker rather than the practice of law:

[Pace University law student Jeffery] Papola has won more than $1 million this year and may be reconsidering his career choice.

“I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with it (a law degree),” Papola said. “I have learned a lot of things (in school), but as far as practicing law, I do not see myself being able to do that, because I really do not like the 9 to 5 thing. That’s one reason I was so drawn to poker.

Lawyers: -1.  Sharks:  no change.

To the innocent, all things are innocent

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In an interesting anecdote on the perennial nature vs. nurture debate, a father lets his 4-year-old son play Grand Theft Auto:  San Andreas, to rather surprising results.

Retrofitting suburban malls

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Amid tough financial times and many retail vacancies, the story of a project aiming to turn Randhurst Mall in Mount Prospect, IL into “Main Street.”

A quick blurb from Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin:

“Today, in an act of radical design surgery, Randhurst is being remade into an open-air, mixed-use development that will have many features of a traditional downtown, including shops, movie theaters, offices and a hotel. The dome and core of the mall have been demolished, and next year a developer plans to open an old-fashioned Main Street lined with Prairie Style-influenced buildings in their place (above). There will even be angled parking spaces that promise to let you drive right up to a shop, though chances are you’ll really be parking in a vast field of asphalt much farther away.

The revamped mall already has been given a quaint variation of its original name: Randhurst Village.

The catchphrase for this promising — and provocative — type of remake is “retrofitting suburbia.” From Cape Cod to California, its advocates aim not simply to remake dead malls, strip centers and big boxes, but to alter suburbia itself, making it more dense, more walkable, and sustainable — in short, more urban.”

These sorts of plans are not uncommon in recent decades. A number of architects and planners, often following New Urbanist principles, have tried to create traditional atmospheres among suburban amenities. This story mentions original plans to include roughly 200 residential units but this component was scratched. From a more cynical perspective, this sort of planning is just dressing up suburban big box stores – think of the name change from “Randhurst Mall” to “Randhurst Village.” From a more positive side, changing the design might make malls more palatable to more shoppers and most importantly, more profitable.

(Some interesting pictures in this story highlight the history of this particular mall and the proposed changes.)

Chicago vs. Wal-Mart: outcome still in doubt

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A news story today from the Chicago Tribune detailing Wal-Mart’s latest offer to build a store in Chicago (it currently has 0 within city limits). Some of the players in the long saga:

1. Wal-Mart. Its latest offer is starting all workers at $8.75 an hour, $0.50 above current minimum wage standards in Chicago. Has been exploring several sites on the South Side for years.

2. Unions. Don’t want Wal-Mart as the company does not allow its workers to unionize. Worried about lower wages.

3. The City. Has primarily been against Wal-Mart because of the wage issue.

4. Those who want cheaper and/or accessible groceries. Several of the neighborhoods Wal-Mart has looked at might be considered “food deserts” (neighborhoods where relatively cheap, nutritious food is not available). Many other companies are not willing to move in while Wal-Mart has expressed interest.

There might be a path to resolution soon – several aldermen now seem willing to support the stories in their wards. This may be particularly timely as Wal-Mart says it would add 12,000 jobs to the city for the next five years if they could build where they want.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE 6/23/10 at 11:10 PM

From the Chicago Tribune: Mayor Daley of Chicago makes “an emotional pitch” for Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart releases a list of benefits for the community, and demonstrators who support Wal-Mart add the vuvuzela to their arsenal.

Quick Review: The Wire

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I finished watching the last season of The Wire over the weekend. Quick observations before I provide some links to academics and sociologists commenting on the show, one that several critics have deemed “the best TV show ever.”

1. The City of Baltimore is truly part of the story. Unlike many shows that use a “bland big city” for the background, this show digs deeper into the place.

2. Multi-faceted view of the situation and complicated stories. Each season attempts a slightly different angle including children and the media (seasons 4 and 5). There are consistent characters through all the seasons but each season keeps adding a little more as a new perspective is developed. Not a fast-moving show.

3. Some fascinating characters. Jimmy McNulty – a detective that perhaps only loves his cases. Stringer Bell – a gang leader who is also taking business classes at night to improve his skills. Officer Daniels (who moves up the ranks during the show) unwilling to “juke the stats” to please his bosses. Many more to name.

4. The police are just as deep into the drugs and violence as the gangs. From consistent violence to “Hamsterdam” to cover-ups to “juking the stats” to impressive detective work, the police are not simply geniuses or people who can shoot better. In fact, the police rarely shoot – a problem with many cop shows since most real-life police rarely or never fire a gun in the line of duty.

4a. The politicians are similarly involved. The goal: get as much positive credit for change while minimizing negatives that happen when you are in charge.

5. Somewhat hopeless ending – new people on both sides, the gangs and police, come in, take the place of those before, and similar battles are fought. Some of the kids get out and many do not. A good number of the police are ruined. The politicians try to use whatever they can to get ahead. Money and power are what people want and just their means of pursuing them are different.

6. Sociologically, a lot of the show seemed similar to Sudhir Venkatesh’s books on life on the South side of Chicago: American Project, Off the Books, Gang Leader for a Day.

Some commentary from other sociologists:

1. Sudhir Venkatesh talking about the show with “real thugs”.

2. A short collection of reviews from Racism Review.

3. The Guardian UK summarizes an academic conference on The Wire.

4. Slate.com writing about academic courses on the TV show, including  noted sociologist William Julius Wilson teaching such a course at Harvard.

5. Two sociologists comment in Dissent in 2008 (and participate in a broader discussion) and then expand on their thoughts in City and Community.

I’m sure there is more out there. It is rare to find any media creation that receives praise from so many in providing a realistic portrayal of city life.

Affordable housing in suburbia

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This recent article from the Chicago Tribune discusses Naperville’s efforts to provide affordable housing. The opening paragraph sets up the issue:

“Naperville officials are grappling with how best to achieve two goals that sometimes are in direct conflict: adding more affordable housing for low- and moderate-income senior citizens and residents with disabilities while not costing the cash-strapped city budget anything extra.”

This is not a unique issue to many suburbs, particularly those with little or no remaining land for greenfield development. However, the position of Naperville is instructive of the issue in suburbia: Naperville leaders are most interested in providing affordable housing for a different group than many may think when they hear the term “affordable housing.” Rather than looking to build housing for low to middle income workers who can’t buy into Naperville’s relatively expensive market, the city wants housing for the elderly and the disabled.

In both cases, these two groups primarily already live in Naperville – and affordable housing would help them stay there. This is an issue particularly for the elderly: once retired, high property taxes often make it difficult to remain in a suburban home. Downsizing within one’s long-time community would often be desirable rather than having to move away after retirement. A suburban community that consistently loses its older residents may lose touch with its past and become known as a more transient place.

The rest of the article also describes critiques of Naperville’s planning from a local housing group, DuPage United.

#1 manufacturing nation: soon to be China

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Maybe this is a foregone conclusion to many, but this Financial Times article suggests 2011 is the year when China will exceed the manufacturing of the United States.

This would end a 110 year period when the US led world manufacturing. This “American Century” (plus 10 years) contained an impressive display of produced items: steel, early cars, to household appliances, to military weapons, airplanes, personal computers, and more.

Even with a global shift to an “information economy,” many countries would give a lot to have more manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing is not just about raw goods: it involves local communities who then contain factories and working classes. Places like Detroit are infamous for going from economic powerhouses to empty cities within four decades. Other cities, like New York and Chicago, have made the shift from manufacturing to other sectors, primarily finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE), within the same four decades.

From the article:

“Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 per cent for China, with the US staying ahead despite a steep fall in factory production due to the global recession.

That the US is still top comes as a surprise, since in 2008 – before the slump of the past two years took hold – IHS predicted it would lose pole position in 2009.”

Interestingly, the return for China to the top adds to China’s long manufacturing edge before the modern era. Perhaps the “American Century” was just a blip on the screen of history:

“If China does become the world’s biggest manufacturer, it will be a return to the top slot for a nation which – according to economic historians – was the world’s leading country for goods production for more than 1,500 years up until the 1850s, when Britain took over for a brief spell, mainly due to the impetus of the industrial revolution.”