To think law and social science degrees are a waste of time?

[Wowserz129]

Are law degrees a waste of time? I wanted to study law through OU but everyone thought this was a silly idea and hardly anyone actually manages to get work after.

6 people (not many I know) that I know have studied social science, one studied social Policy and criminology have had to go on to study masters or not gotton jobs. 5 out of the 6 said they wished they studied something more useful.

What is your opinion on these type degrees?

poor worldcitizen, can't you tolerate people not worshipping you with all your academic and legal experience? yes, i must be angry. when i am moved to answer threads it is because i care about the crap lots of people spout, no doubt you are referring to the thread over the weekend where i disagreed with the academics like you and your pig ignorant ideas about black people and sports/swimming whatever. you have just said that others have answered with passion and emotion, with me the passion and emotion is anger and spite (stereotype much?).

yes i have had and experienced other people being on the shit end of the legal stick, where a large company hurt a friend of mine with the backing of their lovely academic lawyers. lawyers who won't help because they see no money in it for themselves, they just say 'sorry no can do' and move on to the next money making case. i hope that my future experience with the legal profession is extremely limited.

you carry on preening.

''what do lawyers contribute to society?

Seriously, asking these sort of questions shows how far some people are away from academic knowledge.
Also, not understanding what sociology is about, is like not having understood lots of things.

That political science, philosophy, theology, history, economics, sociology, and law are as academic as it can get...and some people not even having a clue...makes me ''

seriously, these sorts of questions need to be asked all the time you snotty person. don't take it for granted that we have to value you or your 'academic' efforts. you cannot know how 'near or far' i am from academia.

I suspect one can guess...

i suspect one should start guessing at a master's from a london university....

Having a masters from anwhere doesn't necessarily make you academic or intelligent or indeed even thoughtful about issues.

didn't worldcitizen mention academia and how far away some people are from it, indicating that being academic apparently shows how intelligent you are? did you miss that post?

does being academic in law make you thoughtful or intelligent? don't other subjects?

anyway, i should stop playing with you i have get some new homes built for people in need in london.

I think anyone who states that all lawyers are just money grabbers simply cannot call themselves either academic, intelligent or thoughtful, whatever qualifications they have.

Now I really must get back to sun bathing whilst dipping my toes in the pool...

wordfactory your last post just says it all, really ha ha ha

Jealous about the toe-dipping and pool and all that...ENJOY !!!!!

you carry on sunbathing, i'll carry on working

Creighton - I've never been a big fan of lawyers either but just over a year ago my husband got made redundant. As in "go into work one day and go to normal 10am meeting with boss to be told you have no job anymore and be escorted out by 10.30am" redundant. No process was followed. After 3 weeks in shock we got a lawyer. She told us they had done the wrong thing. She told us how much money she thought they should pay us. She wrote a seriously impressive letter. She got us the money she thought she would. (Which was twice as much as we were planning on asking for and more the 3* what we would have taken.)

Her bill was about 5% of what she got us. (And she made dh's company pay it!)

Whilst all this was going on all three of us got an awful stomach bug, I was trying to go back to work after mat leave, dd was not settling at nursery and none of us were sleeping at night. Plus we were all trying to process the fact that the company that dh had worked for for years - often at the expense of me and dd - had just got rid of him with no warning or process.

We were a mess basically and she sorted it. She was wonderful.

Oh well that changes things then OP.

In England they've removed the "free for low incomes (i.e. Bursary)" status and moved it onto a similar set-up as attending a regular University (having to take out a student loan via SFE).

I work with loads of lawyers and so does my dh. I know loads of utter tosspot lawyers, I know loads of ok ones, I also know loads of good ones. There are many exceptional lawyers who do fabulously for their legal aid clients and those who help companies large and small. Some are in the legal field to do genuine good, others because the law fascinates and challenges them, some because they are bright and others because they think they can make a shedload of money.
It is like any other profession, we all remember the inspirational teachers, as well as those who couldn't care less etc etc.
Grouping together all of the legal profession ( a solicitor specialising in childcare is very different from one in corporate finance, both still pretty essential to society)
like that makes you look naive and a chippy Creighton.

Sorry, on phone, CHIPPY, not a chippy!!!

OP - are you aware of the difference - in terms of academic leanings - between studying for a law degree versus studying social sciences?

I've studied both (and other subjects to boot - have 5 postgrad quals). IMVHO I would only advise you to go down the law route if you know for sure this type of academia is for you.

Social sciences is very 'open' in that there is often no 'right' answer, lots of research exists to debate different viewpoints and you are expected to explore deeply, learn how to handle research, learn to identify what is rhetoric, what is political, and what is factual (when there is often little to separate any of these) and to also adapt your understanding to your own prejudices (that's the really interesting part). I think it is OK subject for most students but it particularly suits those able to think 'flamboyantly' (terrible word to use in this context but I can't think of a better one) - you can adapt what you learn to argue your own theories and develop your own position.

Law - IME - is about being very methodical in tracking back current state of play to it's origins, understanding the development of the different types of law and how/why they came about (including contextual elements such as cultural impact at various points in time), learning how to assess one thing in the context of the other, and how to extract the precise points of relevance from enormous wads of info. I personally think it suits a very precise mind, able to absorb and recall facts and able to remain fairly detached in 'judgemental' terms. If you don't really really love the subject it could be torture to study.

I think law would be quite a tough subject to go down on a distance learning basis unless you are exactly the right type of person. Social sciences will be 'easier' I think (and certainly so if you think you might end up being a bit 'lazy' )

Anecdotally, I'm leaning towards YABU wrt law.

I am closely related to 4 lawyers (criminal, corporate-govt, research & immigration respective specialisms); I know the older ones worked weekends & holidays & evenings to pay fees in the '60s-'70s, they came from poor families.
Youngest I'm not sure, his summer job is being a Venice beach lifeguard bum so I suppose the law degree subsidises that lifestyle. It's worked out well, anyway.

no lizzielou i am not naive or chippy, i'm just not inclined to worship 'professionals' however important or clever they believe themselves to be.

But Creighton. Most lawyers do not believe anything of the sort. Your narrow experience is not enough to completely slag off an entire ( very diverse ) profession. I certainly do not hero worship solicitors, far from it.
I do have an understanding of the profession and know how broad it is.
I would also never be so dim as to tar thousands of people doing very different roles with the same brush due to one or two bad experiences.

Who was asking for lawyers to be hero-worshipped? I don't think any of us have said that we are either important or particularly clever. You just sound very sad and bitter.