Monday, April 8, 2013

Rooting out the Policy behind the Scam

There are people who, afraid of this truth, grant half of it, like debtors who offer half to their creditors, and ask to be let off the rest. —Dictionnaire philosophique
There are two main aspects of the academic credentialing (i.e., mistakenly referred to as "education") scam: The governmental policy that enables the scam itself, and the actual people who administer the scam. Scam refers to the deliberate inefficiency of schools graduating more students than there are (entry-level) jobs in that field. This situation is enabled by the government policy of subsidizing tuition for the purpose of encouraging education; this creates the worst of both worlds, it both interferes with market demand while not regulating it sufficiently.

This governmental policy is the cause. The effect of that cause are the schools themselves, both the administrations and their fellow-traveling academics taking advantage of the unlimited and almost unregulated government money available.

The immoral behavior of both the school administrations and the disingenuous stay-away-from-my-fat-paycheck professional/professorial sophisters are a necessary result of the moral hazard governmental education policy created. An ignorant population of mostly young students who have limited career options, spending government (i.e., other people's) money, not having to repay it for years (once they have their imaginary castle-in-the-sky high-earning dream job in the future), creates too tempting of a payday for schools to forgo collection. We as a country pay for scamming, and scamming is exactly what we get, and in abundance. 
This policy of moral hazard creates the scam because the policy creates the incentive. Otherwise, the students would not be so gullible; as the quondam scamblog mentioned, if one must spend their own money—their social value, really—the marketing of law school via job placement stats suddenly would become closely examined by even the special snowflakes. Maybe I should contact some actual recent grads before I risk my youth on this? Yeah, maybe an actual unbiased living person in the real world might give me useful advice.

As to a response to this situation, the policy (cause) and the scam (effect) both ought to be exposed. If only the cause is addressed, it is an abstract, unexciting policy issue. The effect—the ScamDeans earning more than twice the income than the President of the United States, the Professor Dumbledums writing rambling make-work articles for each other, cry out for exposure, as public opinion does not well countenance overpaid, underworked professors who provide no value back to society.

If only the effect were addressed, however, we would forever be trimming the leaves instead of reforming the underlying policy instead. We must continue to expose the visible put-an-ugly-yellow-toothed-face-to-the-devil ScamLords, while also addressing the situation that allowed them to prosper. Only then may we rip-out the scam by the dirty roots, and put an end to the sociopathic robbing of the taxpayer and student under the pretense of "law" or "art" education.
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Read my book-length satire/exposé of law school, Smarter Than Socrates: The End of the Law School Era.

10 comments:

  1. "ScamDeans earning more than twice the income than the President of the United States"

    You used the plural here when referring to Deans. Are you referring to someone other than O'Brien who earns more than twice Obama's $400,000 salary?

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  2. The scam is one part of the equation. The other part is... people. Even if the gov't didn't provide loans, I'm pretty sure most of OPs I've tried to convince not to go to LS would go anyway because they are special. Kids will beg and borrow from family members, save money for years, blow through inheritances, etc. to follow this dream of "becoming a member of the legal profession." Every special snowflake is determined to beat the odds. "At least I'll have an education... whereas, if I buy a car, I won't have it in ten years."

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  3. Mr. Bell:

    Your writing just keeps getting stronger. Excellent analysis. Nothing changes until we persuade Congress to turn off the easy money spigot. This will take work (as the entrenched forces will fight this tooth and nail) but you are right---it must be done.

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  4. Adam B:

    Please delete the poem from a few posts ago.

    You know which one it is.

    You and a couple of others are the only decent people that write for this blog IMHO, and I have not commented as per my word and will not unless I see cowardly anon postings that are very upsetting to me.

    So please do me that favor and moderate your commentary.

    I don't see how letting the anon troll shit all over me with wildly inappropriate comments of a sexual nature can help your cause of highlighting areas that need reform within the legal field or having to do with legal education.

    Sincerely,

    John Koch
    Long Island


    Carbon Copy:

    Brian Leiter


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Go away. Problem solved.

      Note how the attacks only start when you post.

      And the poems are funny too.

      Delete
    2. That is because he posts as himself then attacks himself as anonomous. Self-loathing and need for attention. Hopefully his family will get him some help before its too late.

      Delete
  5. @1:49PM

    You are a piece of miserable shit anon coward.

    If you shared your name and identity, and I subsequently posted an anon poem about your nose up someone's ass you would not think it was so funny I bet.

    Anyway there is an academic brat around here too, which is very disheartening.

    This blog is a product of too many cranks and cooks spoiling the soup and all in the name of Campos. And is all BATHOS

    Well then, Campos can point to the horrible comments that were left unmoderated on OLSS as his legacy.

    Campos can point to the anon comments that were left to stand about DJM sucking a Law School Dean's cock etc. and add it to his resume I guess.

    At this late stage of the game, all writers have to be above board and identify themselves, or else the scamblog efforts will just be a tabloid and nonpolitical and free effort in a state of absolute chaos and hardly to be taken seriously, and that includes all affiliated with the menagerie of OLSS.

    Again, I very much denounce the disrespect of DJM that was shown by some anon commenters on OLSS, which was left to stand and went unmoderated.

    I also do not stand by and watch Leiter get shit all over by a pack of anon and very cowardly wolves.





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  6. The Joseph Cotchett Law Firm looks at the scamblogs.

    Nuff said

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  7. I meant that tdennis was the academic brat.

    are you saying that you are her?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Painter, I am now going to report your online behavior to the police in your area. You are now getting very stalkerish.

      Delete