Law graduates 'barely able to read'

[BBSA]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article321310.ece

Some of South Africa's law graduates have been so badly educated that they can barely count, operate a computer, or read and write in English.

That's what some experts said in support of an investigation by the Council on Higher Education on the effectiveness of the Bachelor of Law degree which, they say, does not prepare students for the profession's demands.

The four-year LLB degree previously took five years to complete, but 12 years ago the Department of Justice reduced it to four years to accommodate previously disadvantaged matrics, allowing them to complete the course and save a year's tuition fees.

Nic Swart from the Law Society of South Africa said the situation was "a great concern".

"There are certainly graduates who come out prepared for practice, but the greatest concern is that many have extreme difficulty in writing properly. One of our tasks is to teach students to draft legal documents, but we find that they struggle to do that in English," he said.

"We were also commissioned by the University of Cape Town to do research with their students, and we found that 70% of them couldn't calculate even simple tasks. They emerged without the ability to research legal documents or use a computer and the Internet."

Vivienne Lawack-Davids, vice-president of the South African Law Deans' Association and executive dean at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said she appointed 15 legal experts across the profession to advise on the university's current LLB curriculum.

"We had almost 600 applications this year and accepted about 150 new students. We've found that students struggled with literacy and numeracy. We introduced a Legal Skills module with four components that demand a student obtains 75% to pass," she said.

:wtf:

 

[alisiaoh]

Jip this a soooo true! iam studying LLB right now and have been working at alaw firm for the past 6 years now. i am studying through Unisa and each year so far they are bringing in more "refresher" courses. For example they added a Computer Course (i did the exact same course in computer studies in Gr10-12 and i matriculated in 2002). Last year they added an accounting course because new lawyers dont know how to do their taxes and their books.... at the rate they are adding new subjects this LLB degree is going to take me 7 years to complete....

 

[ponder]

Nothing new, we all know about the state of education. I feel sorry for the poor sod that gets defended by one of these graduates.

But I suspect it's still to hard and standards will drop even further in future.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Wat help dit jy het 'n regsgeleerde wat nie kan lees of skryf nie?

Wag, hoe het hierdie regsgeleerdes hulle eksamens geslaag?

 

[Morgoth]

Wat help dit jy het 'n regsgeleerde wat nie kan lees of skryf nie?

Wag, hoe het hierdie regsgeleerdes hulle eksamens geslaag?

hulle het nie , die universiteit kry subsidies vir al die aantal 'agtergeblewvendes' wat hulle in vat..

 

[alisiaoh]

My Baas dien op die Law Society se Diciplinary Committee" en hy se mens sal verbaas wees hoe baie van selfs van die ouer prokureurs kani hulle eie boeke doen nie. Universiteite berei jou nie genoeg voor vir as jy in 'n werkplek moet in stap nie. Baie van die goed wat prokureurs moet leer leer hulle eers as hulle begin werk. Universiteit gee jou net al die teorie maar hulle se jou nie hoe als toegepas moet word nie. en as jy by dom prokureur klerkskap doen gaan jy ongelukkig 'n dom prokureur wees....

 

[Frankie]

Some of South Africa's law graduates have been so badly educated that they can barely count, operate a computer, or read and write in English.

This reminds me of someone I met in South Korea early last year.

He claimed to be a law graduate from Stellenbosch, but could not even read and understand his employment contract specifically regarding his accommodation costs, and overtime.

The worst part was that he was in Korea as an English teacher, but could not speak English nor Afrikaans well, only Capie lingo.

 

[Bizkit87]

i blame apartheid

 

[STS]

i know enough salesman and managers that can't spell or operate office either, FROM apartheids time. it's nothing new.

 

[undesign]

Nothing new, we all know about the state of education. I feel sorry for the poor sod that gets defended by one of these graduates.

That's nothing. Some of them will become magistrates.

You won't believe some of the decisions made by magistrates. As my attorney friends says - he's OK with it, because he loses half the cases he should've won, but also wins half the cases he should've lost. Sad really.

 

[Morgoth]

i blame apartheid

so true, it is impossible for the previously disadvantaged to keep up with the high standards apartheid set!
(being able to read and write is very demanding, nowadays they settle with being up to screw, throw rocks and set schools on fire)

 

[ponder]

That's nothing. Some of them will become magistrates.

Ja, that's just plain fscking scary if you ask me.

Seen some of the higher court judges laying into these imbeciles in the past.