Unemployed law students

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Ludwig

Hopeless romantic
Location
Lissingdown
I have just heard Law in Action on Radio 4 about law students who can't find a placement in the legal professional due to too many people want to go into law for the status and wealth it is supposd to bring. To me this highlights a funamental flaw in our education system.
If these people are so bright why go into such an overcrowded career where finding a job is rarer than discovering hens teeth. People should just do what they want to do and not be too concerend about status. At the same time we lack skills and other supposedly less glamorous careers but in the end with less competition and greater number of job opertunities these law students would be better off picking fruit and probably happier.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
At the same time we lack skills and other supposedly less glamorous careers but in the end with less competition and greater number of job opertunities these law students would be better off picking fruit and probably happier.

It's very sad that we've devalued physical and vocational skills, in the race to have everyone go to university, because university is somehow seen as the be all and end all of achievement.

When your pipes are pouring water into your kitchen, a law student or any other graduate is not the person you need, you need a plumber. Then you'll need a plasterer, and maybe a joiner to make it all good again. All those people should be valued as highly as academic graduates, but for some reason we've decided that a university education is the definition of success...

(speaking as a BA, BSc, MSc, never quite made it to Dr, who now empties bins. I don't suppose anyone in York today cared that I never finished that docorate on Medieval Animal Biometrics, but they did care that their recycling boxes got emptied....)
 

Cheddar George

oober member
I'm not sure they would be happier picking fruit but it is true that a lot of students study subjects at all levels without giving serious thought to long term prospects. Many years ago i read a newspaper article in Kenya where the Nairobi technical college offered a machinists qualification and a foremans qualification, every year they were churning out 10 foremen to every machinist, unfortunately the guys with a foremans qualification were complaining bitterly as they saw it as their divine right to be a foreman.
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
Forensic Science is another one, seems sexy and degree courses have sprung up right left and centre creating a comparitively huge workforce for a negligible and declining pool of jobs. it must be depressing for the poor sods getting rejected for entry level clerical jobs when they've quite clearly been sold the notion that it is somehow like the telly.
 

Milzy

Guru
It's very sad that we've devalued physical and vocational skills, in the race to have everyone go to university, because university is somehow seen as the be all and end all of achievement.

When your pipes are pouring water into your kitchen, a law student or any other graduate is not the person you need, you need a plumber. Then you'll need a plasterer, and maybe a joiner to make it all good again. All those people should be valued as highly as academic graduates, but for some reason we've decided that a university education is the definition of success...

(speaking as a BA, BSc, MSc, never quite made it to Dr, who now empties bins. I don't suppose anyone in York today cared that I never finished that docorate on Medieval Animal Biometrics, but they did care that their recycling boxes got emptied....)
You Sir, are the salt of the earth & get my respect more than some jumped up pretentious snob who won't even go into certain towns because of the immigrants & chavs like an ex friend of mine. Hat off to you.
 
The education system fails children because it mostly focuses on "old fashioned" potential economic earning occupations rather than encouraging children to develop skills and talents which may have some economic benefit for them but not to the exclusion of wider development. Success is judged by exam success. Very little attention is given to their developmental needs, nor that of society.
 
I wouldn't blame the educational system - I would blame the parents...

I am sure some should be held to account for pushing their children in a direction which they view as "important".
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
I would blame the politicians...

(many of whom appear to have started out as lawyers...)

And these days, all went to University. I blame career politicians for a lot of things, people who come out of uni, straight into some political type career, and have very little idea of the 'real world'. Time was, a lot of politicians had worked up to the top of a buisness, or come in via unions, so they at least had some connection with the general public. Mind you, a ot of them were still power hungry crooks you wouldn't trust as far as you could throw them, but anyway...
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
I wouldn't blame the educational system - I would blame the parents...

It's odd. I bet a huge majority of parents, if asked "What do want for your children?" would say "for them to be happy." Trouble is that too many people (parents and non-parents) equate 'happy' with 'rich', and some people never manage to find out that it's not always the case.

Also, I'm afraid some parents will just want a trophy child they can brag about. A really good parent doesn't care if their offspring is a lawyer, a doctor or a street cleaner, as long as they are happy and comforable - with enough to eat, a roof over their head, a good work/life balance.

And most schools don't have the facilities to encourage good old fashioned skills anymore. If kids never get to try woodwork or sewing etc, how will they find out if they enjoy or have a talent for something. Lots of kids might be all that good at exams, but really enjoy a practical skill. And what's more, if you have a practical skill you enjoy, you're more likely to suddenly see the point of something like maths, because you have a skill to apply it to - so vocational skills can encourage academic results anyway.

I don't know how we get back from where we are. Unless the lights go out, and suddenly people who can DO things are suddenly the ones with the power!
 

MarkF

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
The education system fails children because it mostly focuses on "old fashioned" potential economic earning occupations rather than encouraging children to develop skills and talents which may have some economic benefit for them but not to the exclusion of wider development.

I've 2 at school, 1 at college (with a bundle of A levels), the education system they are in, and were in, is "coaching", coaching children to pass exams, my youngest son has an "A" target in maths soon, I think he's had 2 mock exams and does revision twice a week, I can safely say he'll get an "A". Thankfully he reads an awful lot so has a good general knowledge.

On the other hand, his super qualified 19 year old brother argued till he was blue in the face that Manchester was in West Yorkshire the other day. If you asked him what were the capitals of Germany, Spain, Austria, France and Italy, he'd be lucky to get 2 correct. But, he's got a bundle of good grade certificates.............I'd like to give his school a pat on the back, but they always beat me to it with large, bright UPVC banners singing their own praises regarding exam results..........world's gone mad, my son knows absolutely FA. ^_^
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
I have just heard Law in Action on Radio 4 about law students who can't find a placement in the legal professional due to too many people want to go into law for the status and wealth it is supposed to bring. To me this highlights a fundamental flaw in our education system.
If these people are so bright why go into such an overcrowded career where finding a job is rarer than discovering hens teeth......
That Law in Action piece was just a snapshot. In a different year you could have heard the programme sounding off about the difficulty law firms faced finding suitable trainee lawyers. More than many professions, law depends on economic cycles and students tend to pick their career depending on prospects at the time, not on prospects six years later when they qualify; economic cycles are usually longer than that, so you often have a mis-match between trainees and places.

I decided to be a lawyer because I thought it would be interesting work, not because I expected to be rich or held in high esteem. Which is just as well. I'm not complaining about what I did earn, but I could have 'done as well' in many other jobs - and the days when the professions brought you automatic status are (rightly) long gone.
 
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