Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

SCHULZE FINAL.doc1/20/2011 6:14PMCHARLESTON LAW REVIEW [Volume 5resource for diverse and non-traditional law students to integrateinto the legal community, ARC counteracts the problemsdiscussed previously of the alienation of women and minoritystudents by traditional law school methodologies. 1542. Humanizing Tenet Number Two: “Teach Students,Not Subjects”Fundamentally, the notion of “teaching students, notsubjects” means refocusing the delivery of knowledge from onesize-fits-allto pedagogy more focused on reaching individuals. Itmeans making the learning process more accessible to as manystudents as possible, instead of distributing knowledge in theway most preferred by the one person in the classroom whosetask is not to learn—the teacher.One way in which academic support “teaches students, notsubjects,” is by its focus on individual students. The conventionallaw school, it can be argued, focuses on a teacher-centeredclassroom: 155 The professor is the leader, the source of knowledge,and the person who requires answers and analysis fromstudents. If a learner does not understand a concept, questionsoften receive the response of another question. Although thismay force students to think for themselves and to be self-taughtlearners, taken to its extreme, it deprives students of animportant facet of the learning experience. ASPs counteract thisproblem in several ways.a. Individualized Academic Counseling as “Teach Students,Not Subjects”The academic support method of providing individualizedacademic counseling focuses on students, not subjects. Oneexample of this method occurs in Suffolk University Law School’sAcademic Support Program. That program prioritizes anacademic support method focused on individual academiccounseling. Each ASP faculty member is available to all students310154. See supra Part III.C.3.155. See Herndon, supra note 132, at 813.