A Thought of One's Own

There is a lack of variety in the law degree. Although the law is a time consuming and hugely varied topic of study, it can be frustrating sometimes to be stuck with a choice of this law or that law and nothing else. I find this especially noteworthy when I talk to friends who study the sciences, who get so much choice in what they study. This is at least partly because they're all doing four year courses instead of the standard three that a law degree takes, but I still find it hard to see how Spanish studies are particularly relevant to a Chemistry degree.

Admittedly, the reason we have such limited scope for choice is because we do a qualifying law degree and that means we have to do the units that every law has to know a bit about like Criminal, Tort, Contract, etc, but when it comes to choosing the two units I do get a say in, the range seems pretty limited. There's one non-law topic on the options list, a couple of historical types of law, and the rest boils down to international law, which is not yet compulsory but probably will be one day, and company and commercial type law. Oh, and family law, but how many people are going to take that, with it's huge content of depressing and misery inducing divorce cases?

There's the further question of whether taking a non-commercial option is going to do your employment prospects any harm, although somehow I doubt the employer really cares as long as you've got your 2:1 or better and not failed any of the compulsory modules.

But still, would it really be so hard to offer a bit of economics in the law course? A touch of politics? A sliver of sociology? I mean, learning all about the law is a bit useless if you have no idea about the context. You learn briefly about habeas corpus and how important it is, but don't really look at where it came from historically. You hear about the government trying to control terrorism but are expected to have enough of your own background political knowledge to grasp what exactly the government was/is doing. Plus it would be nice to slow down every now and again and really look into something. But alas, it seems for now that the choice looms between company and commercial law units...