News Letters & Others 'Busy' lawyers put paid to school project 
| 'Busy' lawyers put paid to school project |
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| Monday, 14 July 2008 10:23am | |
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©The
Sun (Letters Section) (Used by permission) I HAVE a daughter in the SAM (South Australian Matriculation) programme at Taylor’s College. I was impressed at the numerous projects and assignments to prepare the students for entrance into universities and the workforce. The nightmare came when my daughter’s project for legal studies required her to conduct two or more interviews with lawyers as active participation. The interviews could be conducted personally, by fax or e-mail. Since lawyers with knowledge of Australian laws were preferred, she sent out numerous email to Australian lawyers, the contacts extracted from Australian websites. However there were no replies, and we accepted this as the result of a difference in nationality. The lecturer later agreed to interviews with any lawyer. So, thinking it would be much easier, my daughter called many lawyers at their offices, but they usually said they were too busy. We have only one friend who is a lawyer and he agreed to an e-mail interview. But after a three-week wait and numerous calls to remind him that there was a deadline to meet, there was still no answer. As a mother feeling the misery of her daughter, I decided to call this lawyer friend. I was stunned and felt ashamed when he hinted that a fee was expected to contribute to this cause. I would say that I can afford a fee, but it would defeat the educational purpose. It also contradicts my principle of teaching my children to contribute to society one day when they are needed. Finally, do I have to accept the way of the world today? Do we really have to buy an interview to complete a school project? How will students carry this experience when they step into society? Then, perhaps the educational board concerned should abolish all projects or assignments that require interviews with people of the corporate world. In my understanding, industrial training, internship etc. are ways to train the young. The successful people of today could have been given opportunities by others. Why are they not reciprocating? Has our world become so materialistic?Or are those who design education modules being naive and unrealistic? Comments (1)
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Circular No 297/2008
To be fair, I did receive 3 of such emails from Taylor's College students and I answered all 3 assiduously. I even included references for further research! Many of the questions were on Australian law and constitutional principles. Fortunately, Alzheimer's has not set in and I was able to dredge up long filed away information.
I must say, in defence of fellow lawyers, that the College should not be so cavalier about giving out assignments without ensuring that there is a community of education-inclined legal practitioners.
Choo Chin Thye