In this week’s edition of “Be Glad You Don’t Live in China”:
Above the Law reports that law students in China are apparently like history majors in the United States: completely, abjectly unemployable. In the last two years, legal jobs have been the hardest to get in China, mostly because there are just too many lawyers. Supply and demand, you see.
Of course, the issue for China is that law is an undergraduate field of study. If law were an undergraduate subject at UCLA, for example, we estimate 85% of humanities students would at some point major in it. Apparently, the lack of limiting factors on how many people can choose the legal major at Chinese institutions has caused the current issue.
So there you have it. The LSAT is truly what separates the United States from Communism.
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Do you think the law degree in China will turn into the history degree in the U.S.? Meaning, the degree is moot unless you pursue grad school or do something completely unrelated to history. Or do you think people will just stop majoring in law?
Spags,
You ask an interesting question. As a proud holder of a history degree with no relevant function in society, I certainly understand the relative uselessness of the major.
Law is a bit different; it’s almost like learning a trade. Unlike the present lack of need for tens of thousands of historians in American society, there will always be a significantly higher need for lawyers, and I’m assuming the same holds true for China.
All that being said, the undergraduate major will probably eventually be rendered non-existent or at least as irrelevant as a history degree. Maybe it’ll be the equivalent of a paralegal certificate, but the present situation sounds untenable.