25 years ago, there was one lawyer for every 327 people in San Antonio. The market’s only gotten more saturated, with people who have to hang their own shingle because they’re just not prepared to practice and firms don’t want to have to train them and pay them at the same time. Lots of the folks I deal with as an attorney and a judge should be suing to get their money back, because they obviously didn’t get the education they paid for.
While I value my education, and what it has done for my kids in terms of critical thinking skills, I agree with you, and further think that apprenticeships ought to be reinstated - especially for law.
Do you get and read the online ABA journal? It’s hilarious (intentionally or not) and my fav email of the whole week. On a more serious note, they have recently covered law school accreditation/over-pricing/over-promising fraudulently to applicants, and the pathetic market now for JDs.
For all the yakking about what degrees are worthwhile and which are not, I think a bright, ambitious person with a solid head on his/her shoulders will end up doing okay. One of mine took a major about which a neighbor asked: what will she do with THAT? Well, just a few years out, THAT degree has provided her a five-figure job that she absolutely loves and would do for half her salary. It helps to pick an area of study that really clicks with the student’s abilities and interests.