Harrison:
Nothing says, “we care, but not quite enough to do anything while changes can be made”, like an article about implementing semesters at the law school after they’ve already been put in place. Granted, not knowing exactly what it was going to look like made it hard to utter anything other than, “well, at least it won’t be worse than what we have now… right?” WRONG! …maybe.
I sat down with my learned, esteemed, and all around good-guy (AAGG) colleague Aron Nimani to discuss the new system as compared to the old. He has the first word on the subject.
Aron:
Harrison, in his graciousness, is letting me have the first word here because he is a cool and nice guy – the standard product of last year’s system. You change the system, and you change the level of Harrison in the class. Bad news. But I’ll get to that. First of all, let’s talk about…
- Pedagogy
Aron:
First and foremost, we are here to learn, so how the semester system affects education should be our top concern. A piecemeal approach to our education really just means a piecemeal education. Criminal informs Constitutional, Tort informs Contract, Contract informs Property, which in turn informs Constitutional, Torts, and Criminal, which is connected to the hip bone, and so on. Sure you can take only Crim and Contract at the same time and convince your profs to give you an HH, but what will you have learned? Well, Crim and Contract law. I guess. But not how private and public law really work as wholes, so how will you remember anything? Let’s face it, if law doesn’t pervade your every waking moment of every day, you won’t learn. And that’s not going to happen if you aren’t immersed in it.
UNMARKED PRACTICE EXAMS! Law school is tough. Law school exams are different. An unmarked practice exam just doesn’t take the place of a screw-the-pooch-without-consequence provisional December exam. There are people who flunked December fail-safes who are now judges. No, seriously. Judges!
What happens now? Well Ontario’s answer-to-the-articling-crisis “LPP” is getting rolling just as we put all the pressure on you in December. Coincidence? You decide.
Harrison:
Look, I have to concede the advantages of cross-pollination to Aron, but what the semester system lacks in imparting a holistic view of the law (and let’s be honest, we’ve got three years to develop that) it makes up for in skills-training. Legal Research and Writing? That’s a real course now! With grades! Students are shown its importance via the threat of failure, or worse: low failure. In my year it was a thing you maybe-sometimes went to on Friday morning unless you were too hung-over. Being an obnoxious keener, I never missed an 8:30 am lecture. My reward? A final assignment with no grade and a single line of feedback: “good luck on exams”. I didn’t figure out how to use the McGill Guide until April, because I assumed I had done it correctly in that class (oh how wrong I was). (Editor’s note: use www.intra-vires.com)
In addition to actually being taught research and writing as the website promised me lo those many years ago, the 1Ls also have that sweet new intensive course! Sure, it cuts off two valuable weeks of summer, but those weeks are spent chillin’ with Dawood, Alarie, and TwoOne-Time Jeopardy Champion Anthony Niblett! I mean, how much are tickets!? Well, $30,000… but they come with a free year of law school and the skills necessary to actually know what to do in said school! Cherry deal.
- Job Prospects
Aron:
Who are we kidding with that last part? First and foremost, we’re actually here to find a way to pay off the debt that comes with being here. Where do I begin? How about everyone’s favourite! You know what’s missing in this new curriculum? Admin law. You know how many employers want you to understand Admin law? Literally all of them. I love the 1L class, they’re great, but they’re no longer special compared to every other 1L class across Canada.
How about our provisional grades? 1Ls used to be able to tell employers how they did in December. I mean 5 courses on the go and check it out! Now? They’ll be able to tell employers they can handle 3 things at a time, just like everrrryone else. If that’s not a demonstration of a solid work ethic, what is? Oh right, last year’s system.
Harrison:
While I agree with Aron that not having Admin law means you’re more like the rest of Canadian 1Ls, you’re still different in one important respect: you’re at the University of Toronto! Everyone at the school is gonna get a job. Whether it be big-firm, small-firm, government office, or the local Starbucks, you will get hired! As much as we would like to obsess over them, little changes to the curriculum really aren’t going to affect job prospects because what’s still way more important than what courses you take is what you take away from your courses. Also, last I checked a semester-based system didn’t reduce the number of clinics and journals available to you, so just make the most of the experience.
Also, I don’t know about you, but I think 3 actual grades will be more useful than 5 provisional grades for getting hired for any 1L keeners. Would you rather have 3 actual donuts or 5 provisional donuts? THOSE DONUTS MIGHT DISAPPEAR. DON’T TRUST THEM.
- Stress
Aron:
You know what builds solidarity? Challenges. Sure, five or six final exams in a month can be stressful, but it’s unique and we’re all in it together. Do you feel like you’re sharing something special with someone else also facing only two exams in a month? Yeah? No, probably not.
The school has been pretty tough on student stress levels over the years. You know, doggie days (well, one doggie day. We don’t want to overdo it), yoga, smoothies. Heavy hitting stuff.
Now, they would love for us to believe that the new curriculum will reduce stress, but who are we kidding? Everyone here knew it’d be hard work, and that the exam period would be rough. You know how long those last? Eight months and one month, respectively. You know what’s going to last for years? The elephant in the room the administration won’t talk about. Sorry guys, fewer classes at a time don’t solve the problem most of us are actually having.
Harrison:
These 1Ls have two exams in December! TWO!!! Some of them are done on December 12th and have three weeks holiday! THREE!!! I’m not saying the 1Ls I’ve met aren’t awesome, but I am saying I began indiscriminately hating all of them when I found this out.
No amount of yoga, smoothies, or puppies (though more puppies please one day of puppies is not enough puppies) gives you what you really need in 1L: time. Just a few more hours/week to spend on extracurriculars, job research/apps, meaningful human interaction, and puppies (more puppies please, also kitties) can do wonders for a body. Having approximately one course less per term and less than half the exams gives the 1Ls this time.
I agree that this doesn’t address the underlying issues that lead to our stress, but we’re lawyers! We don’t address underlying issues of anything! At least this does something.
You know what else builds solidarity? I DON’T BUT THE 1LS HAVE SO MUCH EXTRA TIME I’M SURE THEY’LL FIGURE IT OUT.
- Closing Remarks
Aron:
So we’ve talked about learning, we’ve talked about jobs, we’ve talked about stress. Let’s talk about Harrison. Ultimately you have to decide whether you want to trust the guy on the cover of the admissions booklet telling you the administration is wrong, or the guy abandoning this school and this city for New York telling you the administration is right.
I’m not saying Harrison’s opinion is a bad choice. I’m just saying his brain is obviously scrambled.
Harrison:
Aron’s right, my brain is indeed scrambled, and to the point that I speak almost entirely in Simpsons quotations. I place the blame squarely on not having a semester-based 1L! In fact, scientists have also proven that not having semesters in 1L makes one less attractive physically, and while the new 1Ls speak in a well-educated manner, upper years tend to use lowbrow expressions like “Oh Yeah?” and “C’mere a Minute!”.
Plus, are you gonna listen to Aron? The only reason he’s even on the admissions booklet is because DSB isn’t at the law school this year.
- DSB
Aron:….I’ve got nothing. No point. Harrison?
Harrison: Word on the street is that DSB defected to Ivey in protest of the new semester system. Frankly, we’re better for it. #NODSB
