Law Sucks. What Else is There? Teaching

By William Peacock, Esq. on February 06, 2013 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Law school is often described as a destination for liberal arts students with no direction. Once they discover that their Philosophy degrees are about as useful as a muzzled guard dog, they choose to go to law school because what else is there? Double-down on a useless degree and hope for a professorship?

Unfortunately, some would now argue that a law degree is nearly as useless as some of those liberal arts degrees. Jobs are scarce. Even if you are lucky enough to find a gig, you might have decided that the law isn’t your long-term destiny. We previously discussed the move to journalism and blogging, but there are other options as well.

What about teaching?

It's a noble profession. You shape the minds of the future. Plus, there are robust student loan repayment programs, decent salaries once you've become established, and of course, the schedule can't be beaten. You work normal days, no weekends, and get long breaks whenever the students are on vacation.

Heck, after seeing the average salary of a Chicago Public Schools teacher before their last strike (which increased their already-high salaries), we almost hopped on a plane to the Windy City. Educating the future of the country for more pay than most recent law grads make? Count us intrigued.

Plus, imagine how much fun it would be to torture a high school history class with the Socratic Method. Heck, make their days even worse by teaching history through the lens of law. That would work especially well for honors students, who might even have the reading comprehension skills necessary for understanding landmark court decisions.

So is it time for you to Stand and Deliver? If you've got a six-figure salary, we'd wait until you are debt-free or laid-off. But if you are fed up with the law, looking for a more meaningful profession, or really enjoy cross-examining students in front of their peers, perhaps it's time to start looking back to the classroom.

Did you make the jump from law to education? We'd love to hear about it. Give us a shout-out on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

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