Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

SCHULZE FINAL.doc1/20/2011 6:14PMCHARLESTON LAW REVIEW [Volume 5learning environments for its students by providing morefeedback, contextualizing learning into more individualizedmessages, and promoting (rather than repressing) students’understanding of their preferred learning styles. 211 It comportswith social justice by promoting diversity (both in the law schooland the profession), promoting civility by supporting community,and encouraging class participation by empowering students tovocalize their learning in a more comfortable environment. 212The ARC gives students an object-lesson by showcasing rolemodel lawyers who practice their craft with justice in mind. Inthis way, this method humanizes the law school and increasesthe likelihood of students’ success. 213B. Academic Support’s Role in Empowering StudentSelf-Determination and in Increasing PerceivedAutonomy SupportThis section details the ways academic support helps providean environment of student self-determination and helps increaseperceived autonomy support. To review, self-determination is atheory of human motivation “concerned with supporting ournatural or intrinsic tendencies to behave in effective and healthyways.” 214 It holds that education methods providing learnerswith a sense of competence, autonomy, and relatedness are moreeffective and more psychologically sound in terms of theimpact on students. 215 Regarding competence, SDT supportspedagogical methods which permit students to feel that they aregood at what they learn or at least can become good at it. 216Autonomy refers to the psychological need to feel in control of211. See id.212. See id.213. See id. at 630. In fact, the ARC has been tremendously successful.About 650 students admitted under the program are now practicing law,despite traditional entry indicators indicating that they would not succeed. Id.Two ARC students have been named faculty scholars, one graduated first in hisclass, and many have ended up in the top twenty percent of their classes. Id.214. Self-Determination Theory, supra note 108.215. See supra Part IV.216. Id.320