Losing my cool

Up till now, my classmates have seen a semester and a half of me being a nice guy. Easy to be around, always friendly, strong willed and perhaps a little agressive with a professor, but always in a way that worked out well for the class as a whole.

Today, Im not sure I made any friends. They saw the "me" that can be a bit harsh.

First of all, the last week and a half has been brutal. We've all been working our asses off to get ourselves prepared for midterms and projects, all while the reading load has been increasing substantially. And the little things that used to bother me now seem intolerable.

There are quite a few people in class who love to hear themselves speak. I suppose this is to be expected as this is a law school, but there is one person who grates on me especially. Not because she is an overzealous participant in class, but because she invariably shows through her participation that she hasnt done the reading for the class. We invariably get held up on a concept that was spelled out clearly in the book, and she decides to voice why she thinks something IS something else. NOT why it ought to be something else, but answering questions blindly with no regard for what might have been in the reading she failed to do. Our professors continue with patience, stopping to then teach this concept as though she misunderstands. They dont see this for what it is: pandoring to the lowest common denominator-- a person who simply hasnt done the work.

I have had to deal with this my entire life. I am in Law School now, God Damnit! I no longer have any patience for this sort of bullshit. If I am stressed out and tired and grumpy because I didnt get enough sleep/entertainment/exercise because I got my reading done, why should I have to sit in class and let someone like this waste my time. So here is how it went:

Prof: "In a situation where ___ does ____ is there ______?"
Girl: "Yes, I think there is because ..."
Prof: "Really, who else thinks that?" (almost no hands go in the air)
"Well, Christian, why do you disagree?"
(I had adamently put my hand in the air for the other side of the issue)
Me: "Because the notes in the book CLEARLY say that this is not the case, for those of us who decided to do the reading."
Prof: "Whoa... Okay...Yeah. This was pretty explicit. But why then?"
Me: (i then continued to give a three-word answer why... and was right... because I had read...)

The entire class took a deep breath in and you could feel the tension in the room. The Prof stayed away from me the rest of the classroom, and the individual I was going after proceeded to stay quiet.

This is not a class where the Prof uses the Socratic method and this person was just trying to fudge her way out of appearing dumb. She voluntarily raises her hand to stop the class with her questions/interjections etc. I have utter and complete respect for the student who couldnt get to the reading so sits there quietly and tries to take the best notes possible. I have been there a few times myself. But to pressume to insert yourself in this discussion after failing to educate yourself enough to even read the assigned material?

Turns out I have an issue with that.