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Most of the laughs in college came outside of class...but law school was a different story.
Law professors often use the Socratic method, which means that they choose a student at random and proceed to have a one-on-one dialogue in front of the whole class of Ivy Leaguers, posing lots of difficult questions. The professor never answers questions; the idea is to guide the student toward discovering the right answer himself. Predictably, even a very smart and well-prepared student can get tongue-tied and frozen when they're put on the spot like that, especially first semester of first year!
My civil procedure professor was interrogating a girl about a case involving international trade in the Phillippines, and asked her why the court had decided the way it did, but she didn't know where he was going with that question, and she started to panic and freeze up.
Professor: Well, what year was this case decided?
Student: 1942.
Professor: And where did the plaintiff want to send his ships?
Student: The Phillippines.
Professor: And what was going on in the Phillippines in 1942?
Student: Ummm....
Professor: Well, what was going on in the entire South Pacific in 1942?
Student: Ummm....uhhhhh....
Everyone felt so bad for her and was whispering the answer, but she was completely panicked and couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, the professor, PO'd, walked over to the blackboard and wrote in giant capital letters:
WORLD WAR II
I don't think she ever forgot about that...
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