Size Matters

The semester begins for me today (early, perhaps, but we're done before Thanksgiving).  I'm teaching both Secured Transactions and Payment Systems, so by the end of the week (if not earlier), I'll be eliminated from the "Professor of the Year" contest.  I've got approximately 70 students in the former, and about 40 in the latter (perhaps ending the week at 4:40 on Friday afternoons  dampened interest in learning how to print your own money).  Average class enrollments in my most recent five classes of each course have been 55 in Payment Systems and 58 in Secured Transactions.   We offer two or three sections of each course during the academic year, and numbers for colleagues are comparable.  (Perhaps to the surprise of other UCC profs, we don't offer a Sales course.)   Those numbers may appear hefty for commercial law courses.  You might conclude that the enrollments derive (at least in part) from the stellar classroom teaching.  Maybe you're right.  But a more plausible explanation is that the Texas bar exam devotes one hour of its essay questions to the UCC.  Commercial law is difficult to master in a three-hour bar review course, so students often take one or both upper-level UCC courses for no other reason than to be better prepared for the state bar exam.

When enrollment numbers get high, I'm often tempted to tell the registrar that I'll teach two smaller sections, rather than the single large section.  I think I'm a more effective communicator in a class of 40 (than 80), and I sense that students learn better in a smaller environment.  The only disadvantage to me is that I would spend an additional 42 hours (spread over 14-15 weeks) in class.  But I would spend no additional time in class prep or grading exams.  I might have to prepare two exams, rather than one, but maybe not.  In a smaller class I can better monitor performance (through more frequent recitation) and perhaps move through the material more efficiently.  I sense that students are likely to be more engaged in a smaller class, resulting in a more rewarding experience for all.  And given that my students often have a laptop, a casebook, and a statutes book, a smaller class means more elbow room and enhanced physical comfort (and, therefore, perhaps improved attentiveness).

For these and other reasons, I propose that law schools cap enrollment in all classes (especially first-year classes) at no more than 50 students.  Will this happen?  Not a chance.  Limiting class enrollments could lead to the need for additional classes.  Profs who teach a 2:1 load (two courses one semester, one course the other semester) will whine at a 2:2 load, and those of us with a 2:2 load will balk at a 3:2 (or 3:3) load.  Deans will be asked to expand their faculty rosters (excellent news for those on the market!) or offer overload salary supplements, in either case driving up costs that will trickle down to the intended beneficiaries -- the students.  Or so the thinking goes.

But if I had my choice to teach one section of 80 students, or two sections of 40 students, I'd much prefer the latter.  And unless I strong-arm my dean into a salary supplement (which I'm not inclined to do, if I teach an overload no more than once every other year), I see no other material costs to anyone.  I can find the extra three hours each week.  I think we all could.

Comments

[John Nelson]

You may not win teacher of the year, but your students who pay attention will be blessing your classes when the Bar Exam rolls around.

Third most common thing heard during bar exam breaks my year: "Thank goodness I paid attention in Secure Transactions/Payment Systems!"

[Eric Fink]

This semester, for the second year running, I will teach my Civil Procedure class in two sections of about 30 students rather than one large group. As Tim suggests, the extra classroom time is a trivial cost to me, which I'm more than willing to bear for the advantages -- for me and for the students -- of having a smaller group.