Mailvox: various and sundry
First, a prayer request from RS:
Hermit, meanwhile, inquires concerning calcio:
I'm a long time reader of your blog and I know the most of the Ilk are Christians and know first hand the power of prayer. I have a friend whose little girl is going through a very rare form of cancer. She is a fiery redhead and now is facing the loss of her hair due to the chemo and radiation. Would you please ask the Ilk to pray for this little one? She is facing this bravely, but her parents are having a very hard time. It would mean the world to her knowing that so many people are praying for her and her family. Her name is Libby and she is seven years old.BS asks the wrong person about law school:
I'm very intrigued with your musings regarding lawyers. Are there any situations where going to law school is beneficial? I've read some law school guidebooks since you started mentioning this and some of them say that unless you attend one of the top-14 schools (Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Berkeley, Michigan, Penn, Virginia, Duke, Cornell, Georgetown & Northwestern) then you may as well just forget it and not go to law school as it won't be worth the time & effort. If a kid were to get into Columbia or Chicago, would it then be OK for him to attend or even then would he need to get scholarship money to make it a worthwhile investment? Let's assume that if you do not get into one of the aforementioned top-14 schools that it automatically disqualifies you from attending. In your mind what are the scenarios in which it would be enough to make it worth the effort? Is acceptance into the top-14 enough?Since the supply of lawyers is already excessive, I see no reason to go to law school unless you're going to a top five school and you have fairly serious connections in the legal world, by which I mean that you're going to be made a partner barring any major criminal convictions. Merely being able to get into Columbia or Chicago is irrelevant, sans connections you're still a dime a dozen.
Hermit, meanwhile, inquires concerning calcio:
My oldest son, who is 7, is a month into his first season of soccer. I don't have a ton of experience in many contact sports, but I did play soccer for a few years when I was his age. His biggest current weakness is lack of aggressiveness. One kid on his team isn't the best player, but is always on top of the ball and keeps the opponents off. Which, for now at least, makes up for his lack of skill. I've tried to implement Game and assertiveness teaching elsewhere in his life, with mixed results. I was considering doing a daily boot camp ala Full Metal Jacket: "This is my soccer ball, there are many like it, but this is mine. Without my ball, I am useless...", "Show me your war face!!", or something to that effect. Do you have any advice on this?I found that the best way was to simply play in the backyard every now and then and have the kid take the ball away from you. Do it slowly at first, then gradually pick up speed. Once he's not afraid of attacking an adult running relatively fast, he's not going to be afraid of attacking kids on the ball who are much closer to his size. It's also useful, when he's on the bench, to point out the difference between kids going in hard and kids just sticking their feet out. Ender had a terrible game two weeks ago because he was playing very tentatively after missing a few games on top of a week's break in the schedule for spring vacation. But now that he understands the importance of controlled aggression, he went out last weekend and had an excellent game while marking the opposing team's best striker and holding him scoreless. In general, the only way to deal with instinctive fears in sport is to expose the young player to them and gradually help them become inured to it.
Labels: mailvox
46 Comments:
> First, a prayer request from RS:
Done.
Thanks for the reply. That certainly sounds like a good strategy. Several of the kids on his team have been playing for a couple seasons and have probably already worked through that stage. He's a lot more willing to take risks when he's comfortable and used to the situation. One practice and one game a week just isn't enough to get him there. I have taken out back to practice a few times, I'll make sure I get him out there a bit more often.
Thoughts and Prayers are with RS and friends
"Once he's not afraid of attacking an adult running relatively fast, he's not going to be afraid of attacking kids on the ball who are much closer to his size"
- This is good advice..
praying for healing for libby
Will be praying.
I worked full time days and went to law school nights in the mid-80's. I graduated in the middle third of my class with $30,000 debt. In those days, that was about the annual starting salary for lawyers so I was able to find a lawyer job in the first year, pay the loans, work my way up, etc.
That's still the starting pay for average lawyers in flyever America, but the debt load from my alma mater is now $120,000. After 25 years of practice, I still don't make that much. Granted, I'm not top-of-the-class-at-Harvard material, but the questioner isn't, either, or he wouldn't be asking.
Even in the Dark Ages when I graduated, people assumed we got a Rolex, BMW and $100,000 job when we turned in our caps and gowns. Wasn't true then, isn't true now. But now the debt load makes the equation unworkable. A law school diploma is not a brass ring, it's a lead weight.
While VD is right that nothing beats working up to some level of aggression in a safe environment, the boot camp mentality really does work, as long as you keep it positive and don't overdo it. "Put your game face on. What does a game face look like? Show me! What are you ready for? [Anything!]"
I'm sure children of the Ilk tend to be a little more thoughtful and methodical than most. Fuel their imaginations and get them to take an aggressive pose. Studies have shown that men get an attitude(and testosterone) boost just from adopting expansive or aggressive body language. In some senses it doesn't matter whether the chicken or the egg came first. Testosterone can make you do it, or doing it can make the testosterone. Attitude can produce the body language, or body language can produce the attitude.
1. May God the Father grant Mercy to this little one i hope this will be a faith building experience and lots of blessings forth coming.
2.good advice.
3. more good advice, i wish you were around during my soccer days!
Joe Doakes May 01, 2012 11:47 AM
I worked full time days and went to law school nights in the mid-80's. I graduated in the middle third of my class with $30,000 debt. In those days, that was about the annual starting salary for lawyers so I was able to find a lawyer job in the first year, pay the loans, work my way up, etc.
That is about the average salary of lawyers in Texas. Unless you get into one of those high priced firms don't expect any more than that for many years, if at all.
At that pay you may never pay off your debts.
Praying for Libby and her family.
Joe Doakes May 01, 2012 11:47 AM Granted, I'm not top-of-the-class-at-Harvard material, but the questioner isn't, either, or he wouldn't be asking.
How do you know?
Praying for Libby, her family & RS.
"In general, the only way to deal with instinctive fears in sport is to expose the young player to them..."
It's been hard this year for my 7 year old to go from tee ball to little leauge. He's afraid of the baseball hitting him. I've started throwing a mix of tennis balls and baseballs to him. When he does get hit with the baseball I tell him he better not cry and walk it off. Usually I let him go jump on the trampoline, then we come back to throw again.
1. I will indeed pray for young Libby.
2. Just entertaining the idea of becoming a lawyer in this era should be a red flag indicating you are utterly clueless.
I get the impression that an inordinate amount of these lawyer wannabes get their desire from watching the fictional lawyers on the TV set. They think, "Wow I'll be able to hobnob with the city's sexy young elites, I'll afford to live the swanky lifestyle that befits me; and the icing on the cake? I could feel sanctimoniously self-righteous because after all, I would be fighting the good fight. "
Of course these mostly are women.
@BS:
The top 14 schools put out good law professors and politicians. They are shit for lawyers. If you actually want to be a lawyer and not a politician or professor then find a school that actually teachs the law and how to use it.
Many law firms are ignoring the various law schools because non of them produce lawyers. Case in point a former lawyer who is now a coworker notes that KU (University of Kansas) has a great program if you want to know theory and other BS but sucks for actually doing anything useful that pays the bills.
However 30 miles down the road in Topeka is the Washburn Law School that tends to teach the law. Minor issue is that it teaches mostly Kansas Law. I am told this is rather common in other states and that if you really really really want to be a lawyer then find a school that teaches about law in your state of choice. Avoid the law philosophy mills.
@Joe Doakes May 01, 2012 11:47 AM
After 25 years of practice, I still don't make that much. Granted, I'm not top-of-the-class-at-Harvard material, but the questioner isn't, either, or he wouldn't be asking.
Harvard moved to a pass-fail grading system. There is no "top-of-the-class" anymore. Yale and Stanford are similar.
Prayers sent.
Look up lawyers in the phone book. There's piles of them. None of them lead the lives portrayed on tv.
Prayers sent.
Look up lawyers in the phone book. There's piles of them. None of them lead the lives portrayed on tv.
Lawyers are roaches. Do something worthwhile.
Farm. Be a mechanic. Start a business.
To hell with lawyers. They only exist in such droves because the perverted labyrinth of our legal system allows a zillion nooks for them to creep in and out of.
Speaking as a Kansan who grew up in T-Town and attends KU (accounting, thank God), Washburn is garbage and KU is little better. I grew up watching person after person go to Washburn Law and think that they had a good future awaiting them and I never saw one of them actually make it in law. The legal market in Kansas isn't very big and the people that have been there for 15-20 years have it locked up tight and aren't letting go, kinda like everywhere else I suppose. Frankly, either school feeds you directly into what the Law School Scam community lovingly calls shitlaw - ambulance chasing, doc review, that sort of thing. Yeah, a handful manage to break out of that grind through good connections and hard work and get to the very top of the tiny hill that is the Kansas legal market, but they come out of KU for the most part.
Either sucks, basically. You go upper five-figures into debt for the privilege of having no life and making almost no money. If you must be in law in KS, go be a paralegal. Or better still, go study something useful like engineering or accounting.
-CA
Vidad: Be a mechanic. Start a business.
That's what my brother did. He was a mechanic for a GM dealership became tired of the corporate BS and made his own shop. He is doing very well at it. The local Napa Auto Parts and Orileys have both benefited, both stores now sell the most parts for their region thanks to his shop.
The idea that third tier toilet law schools produce better lawyers is much like the trailer park refrain "I may not have knowledge but I have wisdom!" "we're rich in other ways" feel-goodery.
Attendance at a top 14 or powerhouse regional school is a necessary, but not sufficient condition. As vd states contacts are key. There are certainly are folks who get top of the class and make 160k starting out without help from outside connections. It is foolish to assume you will be one of them.
However, if your father is a partner at a decent firm and you get into a respectable school go for it.
Item 1: Done. May her family be embraced by the God's grace.
Item 2: Shoot a bunch to thin the herd.
Item 3: Excellent advice for young and old.
Praying for Libby.
On a more important note, I'm praying for Libby too. I have a daughter around her age. That's really tough - may she come through stronger than ever.
Prayers offered for the girl and her family.
I have a brother and a brother in law, that went into law. They’ve run the gambit from ADA and prosecutor ie high profile, high prestige low pay, to low prestige above average pay. The most financial success I’ve seen is with boring cases and basically a self-employed mind set. In other words dull but paying work and an entrepreneurial work ethic. Going to law school with the idea of getting a job, is a losing proposition. Going to law school with the idea of starting a business in law has its own sets of risks but may pay off if you do the work of building a business. What most of the people are saying here is, there are lots of better ways to make money as a self-employed business man in less competitive markets. I know that my bother would agree.
If you want to drop a $100,000 on school go into a medical related field, pharmacy or dentistry have a better risk reward ratio than law school.
Harvard moved to a pass-fail grading system. There is no "top-of-the-class" anymore. Yale and Stanford are similar.
Other schools did this too or did something similar by refusing to divulge class rank ( traditional metric for evaluating law students). The reason was largely based on the fact that legal employers were hiring the top 10 to 25% from a wide variety of schools because they found that practice produced better results than hiring exclusively, but deeper into the relative ranks, from the more prestigious schools. This practice by law schools was a huge red flag and many students resorted to estimating their class rank as best they could because resumes that were lacking class rank info often got rejected out of hand under the assumption that, if they weren't disclosing it, it must be bad. It also helped hide the abysmal relative performance of various "diverse" students who are often admitted on a non-competitive basis. There's a reason the POTUS won't release his grades or SAT scores.
None of this matters, of course, if the law student is relying on nepotism, personal connections, or other non-academic criteria to obtain employment.
The idea that third tier toilet law schools produce better lawyers is much like the trailer park refrain "I may not have knowledge but I have wisdom!" "we're rich in other ways" feel-goodery.
Attendance at a top 14 or powerhouse regional school is a necessary, but not sufficient condition. As vd states contacts are key. There are certainly are folks who get top of the class and make 160k starting out without help from outside connections. It is foolish to assume you will be one of them.
True enough. It is largely a factor of selection bias: the top schools can attract the top students for the most part. That is the demographic that will produce the most success in an academic-oriented field. To the extent that lower tier schools attract a share of the best students, those students can be found in the top 5-10% of the class. There are often sharp drop offs after that. There are similar drop offs in top tier schools, but it occurs closer to the 50% mark. Even then, if your goal is to work for a white-shoe, big-law firm, you'd better be near the top of your class in an Ivy League law school, have a close relative as a named partner, or have some other connection or characteristic that you can parlay into a job.
As Dirty Harry would say: Well, punk, do you feel lucky?
Thank you all for the prayers for my friend's daughter, Libby, and thanks for posting my request, Vox.
@RS
Praying for Libby - may the Lord see her (and her parents!!!) through this trying time!
Baseball Savant:
You're right, of course. I have no personal knowledge of the questioner's abilities. But I know two lawyers from my own college who graduated high in their respective classes at Harvard Law: they have similar personalities and neither is the self-doubting type likely to write to Vox for guidance counseling.
Prayers, for Libby & her parents. God Bless!
Praying for Libby
Concerning the footballer, as a soccer coach the biggest mistake I see that parents make is to compare children at the same age.
Boys develope at very different rates despite being at the same age or same height, some of the quickest developing footballers end up the worst players as adults and vice versa.
The biggest mistake parents can make is to force their children into 'toughening up' and most often has the reverse effect. The best thing the parent can do is to develop technical skills and let physical development proceed according to natural progression.
Joe,
I got "A"s in Organic Chemistry so I went off to medical school. Graduated in the top-5% of my class. I only asked the question from the standpoint of wondering if Vox thought there was any situation in which it was beneficial to attend law school.
Your assumption of self doubt was amusing however.
Hermit,
I recommend teaching your son to shield the ball. Being able to attack is important, but I believe the ability to retain the ball is the key to building the confidence necessary to progress in other areas.
Libby, praying for you and your loving mom & dad
Not going to law school is always good advice, but I think most of you are missing the primary reason not to go and overstating a secondary reason.
The primary reason not to go is that being a lawyer sucks -- long hours doing boring (but somehow also very stressful) work alongside, and across from, a remarkably unpleasant group of people. I did it, left in disgust, and have never looked back. And to a person, all of the people I went to law school with wish they hadn't started down the law path. This group of disgruntleds includes partners, in-house counsel, and even some academics -- the cream of the legal career options. So all the wannabe law students out there need to contemplate that for awhile, even your best case scenario will leave you with regret.
On the other hand, the financial picture isn't quite so bleak as people on here suggest. The so-called BigLaw firms pay around $160,000 starting and that increases significantly year-to-year.
Most people at a top 10 that choose that route can find a job, maybe 50% of those at a top 20, down to about 1/3 for those in the top 30*.
Then it starts to get ugly. Top 50, around 5-10%. The rest of the top 100, only if you are top of your class, well connected, and extremely lucky. Below the top 100 (there are almost 200 law schools) - NFW.
So a top 10 is a smart gamble, a top 20 or 30 a little more risky, and a top 50 probably a bad idea. Anything below that is abject stupidity.
*Once you get outside the top 10-15 schools, you also have to start considering geography. For example, Fordham is only ranked 29th, but it is in New York city so grads actually have a reasonable chance of a high paying job. Some for a school like Hastings way down at 44, but in San Francisco.
Bottom line, after all that, don't go.
"The biggest mistake parents can make is to force their children into 'toughening up' and most often has the reverse effect. The best thing the parent can do is to develop technical skills and let physical development proceed according to natural progression."
My father made that mistake, and it did indeed have the reverse effect. That's why any method I use I want to think carefully on before implementing. We have a great relationship, and I don't want to destroy it over something trivial.
With only 1 hr a week of practice, it's just not enough to gain those technical skills just by being there. Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but my thought process is this: If he's being passive/reactive, he might do a lot of running (which is great), but he might only have actual possession of the ball 5% of a given game/scrimmage. If he's proactive and aggressive, he could shift that to 15-20%. That's 3-4X more experience he could be gaining without even increasing total practice time.
"I recommend teaching your son to shield the ball."
From what I've seen, he's gotten pretty decent at that. He's not afraid of getting kicked or knocked over, which is a good start.
"However 30 miles down the road in Topeka is the Washburn Law School that tends to teach the law. Minor issue is that it teaches mostly Kansas Law. I am told this is rather common in other states and that if you really really really want to be a lawyer then find a school that teaches about law in your state of choice. Avoid the law philosophy mills."
Sorry to call you out like this, but this is absolutely horrible advice. It doesn't really matter how well a low ranked school teaches you the actual skills of being a lawyer if no one will ever give you a chance to practice those skills for money.
As I said above, my general advice is to not go to law school. But absolutely don't go to a low ranking school.
Will pray.
A friend of a friend is finishing law school, her big career will begin in colorful Washington with the CDC. I guess she is legal staff. She is oblivious to the economy and doesn't understand that pple in Washington are not like the pple in WV.
Isn't is a turn for the worst when young pple think they've achieved success when they grow to be employees of the state versus being self-made?
Hermit
One hour is plenty, go to the site Strongsoccer.com/kingdrills/clipspractice.htm and look at the drills there, if he learns those drills competently he'll end up a super star (even most professionals haven't mastered the skills in those clips).
Confidence comes from mastery, absolutely don't worry at all at what happens on the pitch at that age, if he is having fun he is way ahead of the curve.
To RS - I'm involved in divine healing circles and would like to help/connect you with someone if possible. If you're up for it feel free to contact me : sirdonc (at) gmail.com. We've seen cancer beaten many times.
Thanks Johnnycomelately. I think he'll enjoy practicing those. We play-fight a lot (quasi-martial arts, he loves it, and he's always the instigator), and I taught him that the main point of it isn't brute force, but "tricking" the opponent, attacking him in ways he doesn't expect. At this age kicking the ball is all about brute force, but he'll enjoy learning those tricks.
SirDon, let me add two terms to your vocabulary:
1) placebo effect;
2) spontaneous remission.
I'm reasonably confident you hold no STEM degree...
Thanks, SirDon! I appreciate it!
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