Wednesday, August 21, 2013

LA Times Still Buying Whoppers

Here's Jason Song of the LA Times doing his part to perpetuate the mythology:

Loyola Law School administrators once justified accepting extra students or raising tuition because the market virtually guaranteed prospective attorneys a high-paying job after graduation.

But faced with growing alumni complaints that they can't find employment, Dean Victor Gold and other administrators decided this year to do something they had never done before: They accepted fewer students.

I'm laughing so hard the neighbors - this is an exurb, okay? - are complaining.

But seriously, how are journalists still buying into the idea that there was once virtual high-paying employment for all? Is the power of myth that strong? What would it take for mainstream journalism to grasp that law schools have been herding calves through the slaughterhouse for years? How long will it be until they pick up on the fact that tuition has nothing do with student outcomes?

Of course the biggest myth is the idea that student complaints about unemployment are prompting Loyola to accept fewer students.

"Reality has caught up to higher education," said Gold, who has served as dean since 2009. "The job market is still very slow, and we have a moral obligation not to just take tuition dollars and then turn a blind eye when our graduates can't find jobs."

Did you hear that, scambloggers? MORAL OBLIGATION. Like you know what that is.

Gold acknowledged that Loyola's move was partly to protect the school's image

Oh yeah. There's that, too. Buried down the article, after he roped in a Tamanaha quote.

The main idea here is that the journalist has no interest in actually understanding what's been going on. There's an intractable bias towards deans doing right even as they collectively do oh so much beautiful, beautiful wrong.

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