I’m sure the internships (more properly called, “farm systems”) colleges provide at no charge to the NBA, NFL, and other major leagues are going to come under fire when this idea catches on. And what about collegiate concerts and theater productions?

The colleges make the money, and the students don’t get paid. Oh, the horror of it all!

An interesting coincidence that having majored in Criminal Justice, I find this thread talking about the law profession. I will reitereate what others have said; I’ve learned more about law from Rothbard and Mises than from college. In fact, they were the inspiration for me to switch to the private sector.

By the way, I’m not really looking to get into that game. Instead, I hope that, along with what I consider an above-average mental ability, spending three years reading the Internal Revenue Code and the corporations laws will be something that adds value to a venture that someone with more savings than me wishes to undertake.

I agree completely. Stephan Kinsella (a patent lawyer on our side of all things) has written very effectively on the detrimental effects of legislation. Much of his work is available through this site. A modern American law degree is in no way a means of understanding justice, rights, or the peaceful operation of society. It is a means of being allowed to practice in an industry in which I can either benefit from bringing the coercive apparatus of the state to bear in my favor (indirectly through my clients) or benefit by helping people saddled with the state but not saddled with knowledge of its edicts to jump through the hoops as efficiently as possible, so they can go on with their lives.

This business of going to college and law school to learn how to think, or how to think as a lawyer, is a bit of bunk, I fear. I was never once challenged to actually “think” about something in college. I was frequently asked to process information through one ideological meat grinder or another, to use a particular approach to describe something, but never to actually think something through. I mean that in the sense of approaching a problem by identifying assumptions and premises, then logically working through to find a solution. This, and my two degrees are “liberal arts” degrees.

As for law school teaching me to think like a lawyer, again, the claim is quite puffed up. Here’s how to think like a lawyer: If there is a statute governing a particular point of law, look it up. Do what it says. Invariably, it won’t make sense. This is not because you’re not smart, it is because it was written as a compromise by a group of people who don’t know anything about the underlying substance. When it doesn’t make sense, use a paid service to locate case law, read the cases, and do what the judges said to do. If there is no statute, read a hornbook summarizing the common law decisions. Apply the tests (the judge-made stuff nearly always comes with immensely more sensible elements) the judges have devised to see if your situation fits into one of the common law causes of action. If it doesn’t, come up with an argument that would redefine either your facts or the law so that your facts fit (or don’t) as necessary. There you go. No law school required. I could have gotten this lesson in a couple of afternoons with a capable attorney.

A young actor would give his left ear for a small part in a prominent production, but under union rules his wage becomes a major liability.

They could file a document, all right, but many never really learned the principles of law — how to think as a lawyer. I suspect the same is true of many who attend technical schools. They know a lot more stuff than college grads, but the stuff they learn will be obsolete in a few years or so.

Worse, the capture of MIT’s courses is very uneven. Some are only useful as a starting point for another instructor. Some require access to a research library because the readings are not collected in a book. Most don’t have the lectures in any form. And some critical courses just haven’t been captured and there are no plans to do anything about this (e.g. first term Inorganic Chemistry; 2nd term is there, through…). (In fact, there are signs OCW may be going into something of a maintenance mode now; if you like it, donate!)

MIT is doing a very good thing, and much more thoroughly than any other university that I know of, but OCW is no substitute for the real thing.

(Chemistry, Class of 1983….)

Math and computer programming can be learned by yourself using books, the internet, a computer and a lot of hours, efforts and dedication.

I know, that’s what I am doing. I am enrolled in a computer programming course at the university but they leave you quite on your own to figure things out.