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The Tortoise and the Hare| Revisionist History podcast with Malcolm Gladwell E2/S4 (Transcript)

The Tortoise and the Hare

Episode 2| Season 4| Revisionist History
Length: 42 mins | Released: June 27, 2019

To see the full transcript, go here.

Malcolm Gladwell: April 24th, 2009. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is speaking at American University's Washington College of Law.

Antonin Scalia: Thank you. Thank you very much, Professor Marcus, Dean Grossman, ladies and gentlemen. I began one of my either talks or Law Review articlesÔøΩ

Malcolm Gladwell: The students are all dressed up for the occasion, C-SPAN is recording, there's a big stage hung with blue polyester drapes. Scalia holds forth, his black hair swept back from his forehead, glasses on his nose, strong and square, all intellectual heft and force, gripping the podium like it's a slab of beef.

Antonin Scalia: Administrative Law is not for sissies. It is a very difficult course to teach, and I assumeÔøΩ it certainly was in my dayÔøΩ a hard course to master.

Malcolm Gladwell: It's vintage Scalia. The audience hangs on his every word. He finishes triumphantly then hands shoot in the air.

Christina Stutt: Good afternoon. My name is Christina Stutt, I'm a 1L student here at WCL.

Malcolm Gladwell: Christina Stutt, first year student.

Christina Stutt: I have a more general question and that is that part of the American ethos is that our society is a meritocracy where hard work and talent lead to success, but there are other important factors like connections and elite degrees and I'm wondering, other than grades and journal, what do smart, hardworking WCL students with strong writing skills need to do to be sick outrageously successful in the law?

Malcolm Gladwell: "What does it take to be outrageously successful in the law."

Antonin Scalia: Hahaha. Just work hard and be very good. Now, I'll tell you a storyÔøΩ

Malcolm Gladwell: My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. This episode is part two of my examination of the bizarre things the legal profession does to pick its best and brightest.

Malcolm Gladwell: In part one, which if you haven't listened to, you probably should, I took the law school admissions test along with my assistant, Camille, and couldn't understand why they made me rush through all the questions. But now, in part two, we have bigger fish to fry. I'm going to serve up Malcolm Gladwell's grand unified theory of how to fix American legal education. No, make that my grand unified theory for fixing all American higher education.

To see the full transcript, go here.

Transcripts for the entire Season 1ÔøΩ ÔøΩ4 podcasts of Revisionist History are available here.

Simon Says is an automated transcription service. We assist people and companies, such as those in the media, to swiftly transcribe audio and video files so they can find that meaningful dialogue. We are not associated with Revisionist History or Panoply Media; we are just big fans. And we highly recommend you listen to the podcast if you can. We have provided the transcript below as a supplement. Enjoy!

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