Work is throwing some exciting things at me: I’ve been commissioned to write a report on the global market for online TEFL materials – right up my street, and it was very flattering to be called an expert on the subject. Then there is the possibility of working full time on some business English textbooks, or on a series of PowerPoint materials for super hi-tech English schools in China, plus a few other things frying in a few other frying pans.
But when I look at the pile of textbooks and materials I have for the second year of my law degree (which started on Sunday), I’m really not sure I should be signing up for any work at all. I’m compressing an entire law degree into the space of around 18 months, and to say it’s challenging is a bit of an understatement. Fortunately, I find the subject fascinating, encompassing as it does pretty much every aspect of human existence. I suppose if I were to summarise the study of law in a throwaway phrase it would be ‘learning the ways in which people screw up’.
We’re studying criminal law this year, and already I’m finding out things I had real misconceptions about. For example, English criminal law has been assembled with the intention of reducing the amount of harm we cause one another, rather than with the intention of encouraging us to be good citizens. In practice this means that I would not be held culpable for your death if I saw you were on fire, but sat on my arse to watch you burn rather than utilising the fire extinguisher that was sitting right next to me. In other words, the law does not compel us to act in each other’s best interests. (Or maybe the law is just optimistic, and assumes the English are so noble they don’t need to be coerced into doing the right thing. Being Scottish, and coming from a land where it’s so damp no one ever catches on fire, I’m not really qualified to comment.)
Right now, I’m so tired that I’m not sure I could even be bothered to put myself out if I were on fire. ‘Don’t have nightmares,’ our ghoulish lecturer said to us as he slunk off. I wonder if I can sue him if I do?
Ways in which people screw up
I can really relate to your jam-packed schedule, as I’m always trying to fit several simultaneous lifetimes into one. The projects sounds pretty exciting, but so does law school.
I’m working towards my mediation (alternative dispute resolution) credential at the moment, and the exposure to lots of legal professionals has sharpened my awareness of the law. Sometimes it seems to work against the interests of solving problems. I suppose that’s part of the cost of developing a legal system that does its best to be fair and balanced. But it’s tricky, isn’t it. And, it sounds, sometime disturbing.
Er, the projects SOUND exciting. I really do speak English. Sometimes.
This is just more evidence you never listen to me Bureauista. I constantly rant about how the law is designed to punish you not protect you.
I’m sure you’ll make a good lawyer, given I can never figure out what you’re really thinking.
Unfortunately, what little exposure I’ve had to ‘real’ legal situations has shown me that theory and practice are very distant cousins.
Valerie, I find it very amusing that you are working towards dispute resolution, whereas you, Johnny, are normally engaged in dispute creation. Takes all sorts!
Apparently you have a blog that attracts extremists
I resemble that remark, Bureauista. I blame you anyway, you know you excite me.
Get your law professors to explain to you how they think English common law is going to neatly dovetail with the Code Napoleon as we all become citizens of Europe. And I have a castle for sale if you can find me someone who believes that.