4 ms·

This isn't just law school related. This applies to every type of college and education system, with few exceptions. The college system does not teach practica

This isn't just law school related. This applies to every type of college and education system, with few exceptions. The college system does not teach practicality by design. To do that would remove a great deal of profit... Instead of raking in 4-5 years worth of tuition, they would only get 1-2 years. Instead of hiring teachers that can't-do, they would need to find teachers that can-do. Instead of keeping people pre-occupied and enrolled with bullshit curriculum that keeps you going nowhere and seeing-nothing, they would lose students as soon as those students decided this type of job was not for them (rarely anyone knows what they want to do at this age). The college system is sold to us on the premises that 1) you'll be trained for the job that 2) you will most certainly be getting right after the degree is awarded. Neither of these things is true. I've been there. It was not worth it at all. While there are a few exceptions, people mostly play on their egos with degrees and such. There is nothing quite as useless as a new college graduate that thinks he has value.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Colleges have never advertised themselves as employee factories. The value-add for college should be in giving people the ability to think for themselves; to figure things out.
- DanBC 15y ago
  Why does that have to cost $150,000? Why can't "thinking for yourself" and "figuring things out" be combined with examples from relevant legal systems rather than examples from post-feudal England?
  - _delirium 15y ago
    I haven't attended law school, but I've self-studied a few of the casebooks and readers they use, and most examples are contemporary. In fact many profs and book-writers go out of their way to use examples their students will find relevant/entertaining. Sometimes that even gets them into trouble; in a recent case, a law prof was suspended for posing a "colorful" hypothetical about shooting his dean in various combinations of circumstances: http://volokh.com/2011/02/16/criminal-law-professor-suspended-for-classroom-hypotheticals/ http://volokh.com/2011/02/16/criminal-law-professor-suspende...
    - a3camero 15y ago
      I have never had a law exam question that tested something on outdated law. I'm a third year Cdn. law student but it's probably quite similar. The old cases are taught because they're still relevant to some principle. A 1600s case about a music hall burning down sounds ridiculous until you realize that "buildings burning down" is still a problem that exists today and that's the origin of the doctrine of frustration.
- powertower 15y ago
  > Colleges have never advertised themselves as employee factories. That's exactly how colleges sell themselves. > The value-add for college should be in giving people the ability to think for themselves; to figure things out. And yet they fail.
  - marquis 15y ago
    I had an extraordinary experience at university, though I did not follow the same path professionally. It gave me a grounding in self-responsibility and access to a million kinds of wonders, and while I wish I had taken some CS and mathematics classes as my degree is heavily arts-based, I could pick these things up later auto-didactically (though it's a life long dream to return to get a CS degree). I don't think my education experience failed me at all and many of those around me: it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are.
    - powertower 15y ago
      Then you and your circle of friends are the exception, not the rule. > it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are. Then you agree with me!
      - marquis 15y ago
        I don't downvote comments that spur conversion, please don't assume this. I also don't think I'm the exception: I would say most of my friends thoroughly enjoyed their higher education experience and got a lot out of it more than just learning practical knowledge that furthered their career. What's important about studying after high-school is that you find out that you love learning for the sake of it, with a group of people who are there by choice (unlike high school) and your horizons can be broadened immensely. Am I biased because I took a creative arts degree? Possibly, but I also took science classes and found the energy to learn there to be of the same calibre. On that note also: I didn't study in the U.S. and certainly not at a for-profit school. I concede that the experience may be completely different in other countries (though I've found Europe to be fairly homogenous in regards to their approach to learning: academic over career-oriented).
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

Colleges have never advertised themselves as employee factories. The value-add for college should be in giving people the ability to think for themselves; to figure things out.

DanBC 15y ago
Why does that have to cost $150,000? Why can't "thinking for yourself" and "figuring things out" be combined with examples from relevant legal systems rather than examples from post-feudal England?
- _delirium 15y ago
  I haven't attended law school, but I've self-studied a few of the casebooks and readers they use, and most examples are contemporary. In fact many profs and book-writers go out of their way to use examples their students will find relevant/entertaining. Sometimes that even gets them into trouble; in a recent case, a law prof was suspended for posing a "colorful" hypothetical about shooting his dean in various combinations of circumstances: http://volokh.com/2011/02/16/criminal-law-professor-suspended-for-classroom-hypotheticals/ http://volokh.com/2011/02/16/criminal-law-professor-suspende...
  - a3camero 15y ago
    I have never had a law exam question that tested something on outdated law. I'm a third year Cdn. law student but it's probably quite similar. The old cases are taught because they're still relevant to some principle. A 1600s case about a music hall burning down sounds ridiculous until you realize that "buildings burning down" is still a problem that exists today and that's the origin of the doctrine of frustration.
powertower 15y ago
> Colleges have never advertised themselves as employee factories. That's exactly how colleges sell themselves. > The value-add for college should be in giving people the ability to think for themselves; to figure things out. And yet they fail.
- marquis 15y ago
  I had an extraordinary experience at university, though I did not follow the same path professionally. It gave me a grounding in self-responsibility and access to a million kinds of wonders, and while I wish I had taken some CS and mathematics classes as my degree is heavily arts-based, I could pick these things up later auto-didactically (though it's a life long dream to return to get a CS degree). I don't think my education experience failed me at all and many of those around me: it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are.
  - powertower 15y ago
    Then you and your circle of friends are the exception, not the rule. > it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are. Then you agree with me!
    - marquis 15y ago
      I don't downvote comments that spur conversion, please don't assume this. I also don't think I'm the exception: I would say most of my friends thoroughly enjoyed their higher education experience and got a lot out of it more than just learning practical knowledge that furthered their career. What's important about studying after high-school is that you find out that you love learning for the sake of it, with a group of people who are there by choice (unlike high school) and your horizons can be broadened immensely. Am I biased because I took a creative arts degree? Possibly, but I also took science classes and found the energy to learn there to be of the same calibre. On that note also: I didn't study in the U.S. and certainly not at a for-profit school. I concede that the experience may be completely different in other countries (though I've found Europe to be fairly homogenous in regards to their approach to learning: academic over career-oriented).
deleted 15y ago
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