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PerspectivesinLaw 15 - 25 Jan 2008 - Main.CarinaWallance
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| | I’ve been having a hard time in this class, and would like others’ input. While this class is by far my favorite, it is also the most frustrating. I’m not sure how to look at what I consider to be stereotyping, judgmental views, and bifurcated ways of thinking: Good law versus bad law, pink skin versus non-pink skin, complacency and greed versus (what I assume is meant) altruism and righteousness. I’m probably not the most articulate person to be making the points I’m about to make, but please understand I mean no offense – I’m only trying to understand and be understood, and, through this classroom experience, to learn some non-academic things along the way.
Do I like money? You’re damned right I do. Why? Because, in this society, it opens up options and is the main instrument that one is forced to use in order to produce resources that one needs and prefers (in other words, those things that make life a heck of a lot easier). I don’t care about status, social position, or wealth per se (despite what may be unintentionally implied by the sentence about being a secretary as opposed to a lawyer in the profile at http://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2007/December07/2010profiles.) The reason I applied to Columbia instead of law schools in my state is because I assumed (and I think rightly so) that on balance, there is too good a chance I will be unemployed after law school if I’m not able to tell prospective employers that I went to what this society considers a “top” law school. If I had chosen to go to a law school in my state (in my case, Indiana University), I would be paying $15,784 in tuition this year; at Columbia, I am paying $42,024. Yes, I’m paying up-front almost three times per year in tuition what I could be paying. But I, employers, and the law schools know that my chance of recouping that financial outlay is by far greater if I have the Latin equivalent of “Columbia” at the top of my diploma instead of “Indiana.” Frustrating, but real. | | |
-- MichaelBrown - 25 Jan 2008 | |
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Going back to Eben's suggestion that we should not divide the question of materially defining what we want/need and defining socially meaningful work in half - that this dichotomy is a social construction rather than a practicality... If this is a social construction, how has it formed and why is it so prevalent?
I am under the impression that this divide is more present as a social construction in my generation than it was for my parents. On numerous occasions my parents have commented that the issues and concerns that my peers in college were considering and weighing in terms of making decisions about what jobs and careers to pursue were very different from the considerations they made when they were this age – generally the trend being that in ‘their day’ the concern was more about adventure and making social change and today it’s more about what looks good on a resume and establishing lucrative careers. Is this 'dichotomy' greater today, if so why?
I have spent a lot of time in the Netherlands where I am a citizen. When I was living there last year, I had just finished college and was preparing to start pursuing a career. What I found striking was how my Dutch friends and cousins who were in the same 'life' position were making their decisions and considering their options in a completely different atmosphere. To mention a few of the driving factors -financial concerns tend to be far less prevalent since the government provides a comparatively enormous amount of security. Student debt is also comparatively non-existent - average university tuition is under 2000 euro per year (in fact, the government gives college students monthly stipends to help with living costs and free public transportation). The point is, that the 'socially constructed' dichotomy isn't quite so prevalent there - from what I have observed anyway. I think that in many ways living in the United States is far scarier than living in the Netherlands where the government steps in to provide such enormous security. I do think that these factors play a role in the creation of this 'social construction'. I would be interested in hearing more of what others have to say in terms of addressing why this perception exists in the first place as a way of getting at the more pressing questions of how to overcome it.
-- CarinaWallance - 25 Jan 2008 | | | |
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