I’m all for good preparation and self-help (up to a point) though I’ve never been a big believer in self-help books per se – perhaps because of their generally patronising approach which invariably promise the world and fall woefully short or the fact they tend to lead the reader on a helter-skelter trip into the bleeding obvious. I’m not quite sure who would actually buy Law School for Dummies: potential students, the interested lay person – if such persons exist – or desperate students looking for shortcuts to success?
In the case of the latter category, sound, useful advice is always a good thing, I guess, though I feel that while some study techniques are more conducive to success than others, there are very few shortcuts or quick fixes to be found out there. Study methods are also a matter of personal taste – a fact I highlighted in my recent ‘How to revise for a law exam’ post.
I’m also not sure that dumbing-down the law school experience, what it demands from students and offering supposed shortcuts to academic success can be a good thing. The graduate market is already over-saturated with second-rate law graduates churned out from former polytechnics and encouraging more like ‘Paul-shouldn’t-have-gone-to-Uni’ to leap into the breach can surely only exacerbate the problem.
In fairness to the US edition of the book which I’ve electronically thumbed through (at least the limited preview available on Amazon, anyway) it did seem to strike a reasonably cautious tone in warning of the hard work ahead and so on. That said, the closing chapter is entitled, ‘Ten little-known Law School Secrets’. Yeah, good luck with those.
Maybe I’m being overly harsh here. Still, I find it vaguely troubling that the title ‘Law School for Dummies’ even exists. It can hardly stand as the proudest addition to a law student’s bookshelf and supposing you were gifted such a book for Christmas? I should imagine that such a present would take some serious bouncing-back from.
Ha ha, that's great.
ReplyDeleteexcellent - I suppose the only interested party should be those potential students deciding whether to do a law degree. what I do need however is a book to explain the path to being a solicitor in language my parents understand - end up doing this every time I've gone home for the last 5 yrs.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know what you mean, Travis. As an extention of that idea, perhaps a 'Legal Profession for Dummies' would prove useful in helping to convey the nature of the bifurcated legal profession to citizens in England/Wales, exactly why the term 'lawyer' is generic and what the hell a paralegal is.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience the average person seems to have an inexplicably tough time coming to terms with any of those issues.
What makes your law degree so brilliant you self righteous cretin? Is your university one of the only ones in the country churning out conscientious students? It appears to me like your Uni leaves you with too much time to post your blithering rubbish all over the internet.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a bad idea! It'll promote lazyness in students and it's just a bad idea altogther! Surely if your going to Law school then you would need big, long books not a dummies guide. The fact that it has dummy in the title just sounds wrong!! Maybe if it was for lay people then I'd understand but not for students/professionals.
ReplyDeleteMy parents finally told me this trip home that after 5 yrs explaining, the legal profession is beginning to make sense.
ReplyDeleteThat said I still spend an hour explaining the difference between the English system and the system at home.
I really want to know what those 'little-known' secrets are!
ReplyDelete