Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Lies, Damned Lies, And Law Students Who Fill Out Surveys

Statistics amassed during 2004 from students at public and private law schools of varying size revealed both "promising" and "disappointing" findings, according to the public report.

On the positive side:
• 82 percent of students rated their schools "good" or "excellent."
• 82 percent were encouraged to learn by applying classroom theory to practical problems.
• 96 percent posed questions to spark classroom discussion.
• 94 percent found campus library services satisfactory or better.
• 76 percent were satisfied with their schools' emphasis on law practice ethics.

On the negative side:
• 63 percent of students said they received scant support in job placement.
• 56 percent had not participated in pro bono or volunteer work.
• 56 percent incurred $60,000 or more in tuition debt.
• 32 percent never have substantive discussions with faculty outside of class.
• 18 percent said they "never" received prompt written or oral feedback from professors.

Some of the numbers make a lot more sense if you put the words, "Of those who responded," in front. So what can we take from this survey? A lot of brown nosing gunners took the online survey and expected a lot more from their brown nosing efforts. Seriously, 96% of students posed questions to spark classroom discussion?! Get outta here and take your survey with you.

By the way, I found out where part of that tuition increase is going.
Based on student enrollment, the law schools paid fees between $3,000 and $4,000 for the first annual "Law School Survey of Student Engagement."

Excuse me for a moment as I use inappropriate T9 language - Ducking duckers! Actually, I really do hope that SWLAW wasn't one of the schools that purchased this survey. But it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

No comments: