Sometimes you don’t know what the right thing is for you until you start to do it

Paul Bernal is a lecturer in IT, IP and media law at the University of East Anglia, blogging at Paul Bernal's Blog. In an interview with legal tabloid Legal Cheek he explained how practical doing can bear more professional fruit than abstractive reflection. He said:

"Now, I would say I’m closer to doing what I really want to do than I have been at any stage in my life — and I’ve found it without a plan. At first I thought I needed one. Now I’m quite clear that even if I had had a plan, it would have been important to be able to break with it, to follow my nose — and not to be afraid to change plans."

The key part: "Sometimes you don’t know what the right thing is for you until you start to do it. The thing I’ve learned, more than anything else, is that that’s OK. In fact, it’s great."

 

As Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it must find you working." English political philosopher Michael Oakeshott wrote to the same effect: "the greatest achievements are accomplished in the mental fog of practical experience."

 

 

Why does everyone want to go to Law School? Ctd Legal Education andTraining Review

After 30 months, it's out. Legal Cheek has produced a good summation of the 335 page document.

10 tweets that help you understand the Legal Education & Training Review without having to read the thing http://t.co/n1bTIVCHO4 #LETR
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) June 25, 2013

Employability versus The Traditional University Degree - An Open Letter to Sir David Bell (part 3)

Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading.

The Socratic dialogue continues.

Part 1 of this dialectical series was began by me with an open letter published on the Huffington Post and on Ambitious Minds which addressed Sir David Bell who had made suggestions in the Times newspaper that a growing push towards "employability" of university degrees was putting the 'intellectual integrity of degrees at risk.'

In Part 2 Sir David Bell responded to my riposte and gave his own counter-argument. I have since published what he had to say on my blog which you can read it here. Sir David Bell made a number of fair and interesting points.

In Part 3 of the dialectic I would like to give further response by broadening my argument, and by citing more of the commentators and authorities that I've been following and reading assiduously in recent months. To begin with, I would like to present three testimonies that all give a dim account of the "status quo" university education.

Firstly, to start with Dale J Stephens (@DaleJStephens), the founder of the Uncollege movement said of his university experience in the US: