From: cyeomans@ms.uky.edu (Charles Yeomans)
Subject: Re: What can we have for an educational system?
    <1992Nov16.112043.28723@ms.uky.edu> <Bxwruz.6sB@quake.sylmar.ca.us>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:04:33 GMT
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences

In article <Bxwruz.6sB@quake.sylmar.ca.us> brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K. Yoder) writes:
>In article <1992Nov16.112043.28723@ms.uky.edu> cyeomans@ms.uky.edu (Charles Yeomans) writes:
>>In article <BxsELH.65C@quake.sylmar.ca.us> brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K. Yoder) writes:
>
>>I wouldn't say that lawyers are necesarily any more competent than teachers
>>as a group.  Like anyone else, most lawyers find a niche and settle into
>>it, either due to laziness, fee-generating efficiency or because they 
>>work in a particularly demanding area - just like professors.
>
>>There are plenty of bad lawyers out there in the world.  Now, one might 
>>argue that the marketplace eliminates bad lawyers (unlike bad teachers),
>>but that presupposes that the average person can tell the difference
>>between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer.
>
>Lawyers can and do get fired, either by clients or by their law firms. 
>besides, just knowing that they will be put to a market test keeps many
>of the incompetent away.
>
>Anyway, even if there were a lot of incompetent doctors and lawyers, that
>would not in any way excuse teachers for being incompetent.
>
>It's like a thief saying in his defense that "Lots of other people steal too.".
>
>>The fact is, lawyers have the potential to make a hell of a lot more
>>money than teachers.  And that's why they are "respected".  Of course, 
>>most lawyers do not make more money than teachers - I believe the average 
>>salary for lawyers is around $30,000.  Perhaps if this were publicized,
>>people wouldn't think so much of lawyers.
>
>That's incredible.  Were you never in a classroom?  Do you really think you 
>teachers were competent?  Do you really think that relative salaries are the
>only reasons only reasons for people disrespecting teachers?
>
>--Brian
>
I am a product of Tennessee public schools, and yes, I do believe
that many of my teachers were competent.  Many of them weren't
so good.  I figure that works out to be just like the real world.

I also have more than a passing familiarity with the legal profession, as
my wife is a law professor who used to pracitce law at a high level
in several different areas.  After several years of talking to lawyers
and hearing them talk to each other, it is clear to me that the level
of competency among lawyers varies wildly.  I don't believe for a minute
that the existence of a market test keeps potentially incompetent 
lawyers away at all.  And I suppose I should ask, incompetent
at what?  One of the highest paid lawyers in Kentucky is a man
who generates no respect among his peers for his legal knowledge - indeed, 
I saw him make a fool of himself at the annual meeting of the Kentucky
Bar Association while serving on a panel.  However, this person can
sniff out and get business as well as anyone I've ever seen.  

But, ultimately, I have to concede that the general intellectual level
among lawyers is probably higher than that of K-12 teachers.  Education
programs seem to draw the bottom of the barrel among students.

Charles Yeomans


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