法学院为什么这么招人恨？

    如果大家认为这些债务呈均匀分布，请再想一想。“众多法学院的经济资助结构与几乎任何其他教育机构的情形刚好相反，”温特哈尔特说。“入学成绩最低的学生（往往是女性，少数族裔，或是来自社会经济背景处于弱势的家庭）实际上在补贴入学成绩最高的学生，后者往往能够获得奖学金。”为了争夺更高的排名，法学院一门心思地招揽高分申请者，而不是帮助那些或许最需要帮助的学生。

    这个起点当然无助于提升学生对法学生的温情，法学院起始年级的气氛非常诡异。温特哈尔特说，这种情形非常像真人秀《单身汉》(The Bachelor)。他说：“每个人都假装彼此相处融洽，但在假象之下，显然存在一股挥之不去、因为竞争压力导致的紧张感。”

    如果你渴望迈入的法学院声称自己与众不同，你最好不要全盘接受这种说辞。“有一种说法是，波士顿学院堪称法学院中的迪斯尼乐园(Disneyland)，”温特哈尔特说。“这显然只是一个比喻，旨在强调这所法学院多么友善，多么热情。在我看来，这个比喻形象地表明，它的学生们正在非常虚伪地掩饰自己相互竞争的事实。说到底，它依然是一所层级分明的学校。它依然奉行曲线评分模式。只有一定数量的人才能进入这所学校。在人数众多的大班，学生们你追我赶，力争上游。这种相互竞争的动力似乎过于强大。因此，不管大家多么努力地摆出一副友善的表情，都很难完全掩盖。”

    如果极具竞争意识的学生奋发图强，但没有获得他们想要的东西，那就会造成非常不美妙的后果。“我认为，很多时候，这些学生会觉得真实的世界与他们原来的想象大相径庭。他们非但没有步步高升，就连收入也陷于停滞。我认为，从广义上讲，他们会产生某种仇恨心理，”温特哈尔特说。“这种心理当然让人们更容易接受对法学院的各种批判，以及那些从意识形态角度对法学院现状发出的拷问。”

    法学院经受的完美风暴就是这样酝酿而成的。法学院作为一家教育机构招收了一大批雄心勃勃的学生。它几乎没有尝试过要消除学生们之间存在的经济条件不平等，直接让他们相互竞争，最后又把他们扔进一个根本无力消化他们的劳动力市场之中。而当学生陷于困境的时候，学院方面只是耸耸肩，大言不惭地说什么，它们当初根本就没有保证过毕业后一定能找到专业对口的工作。

    但有一些证据表明，法学院正在采取措施平息如潮水般涌来的指责。过去几个月，爱荷华大学(University of Iowa)、宾州州立大学(Penn State)和罗杰•威廉姆斯大学(Roger Williams University)等学校相继削减了法学院的学费。

    为了打消申请者的戒心，就连科克里也给未来的律师们提供了一些实用的建议。“你可能上不起你心目中的首选院校，”他说。“据我了解，公立和私立法学院一年的学费相差很多，前者大约是13,000到16,000美元，后者可能高达56,000到57,000美元。”约翰•马歇尔法学院每年的全日制学费为41,304美元。

    “那么，这些收费低廉的法学院在哪里找呢？”他补充道。“其实全美各地都有这样的学校。你可能要做的一件事情是，好好地了解一下这些低收费院校，看看能否被录取，能否制定一个去那里上学的融资计划。”

    暂且不谈机构改革，多说一些真心话或许是改善法学院处境的第一步。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    If you think the debt is spread around evenly, think again. "The financial aid structure at so many law schools is exactly the reverse of what it is at just about any other educational institution," Winterhalter says. "The bottom of the entering class -- which tends to be women, tends to be minorities, tends to be people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds -- effectively subsidizes the top of the class, who get merit-based scholarships." In the scramble for higher rankings, law schools focus on reeling in high-scoring candidates rather than helping students who might need it most.

    This starting point doesn't contribute to warm feelings for law school, which is a notoriously strange atmosphere to begin with. Winterhalter says it's a lot like the reality show "The Bachelor." "Everyone sort of pretends to get along, but it's very clear that beneath the veneer, there's a sort of lingering tension that comes from people's competitive drive," he says.

    And if the law school of your dreams says it's not like the others, you might want to take that claim with a grain of salt. "There's a saying at Boston College that it's the Disneyland of law schools," Winterhalter says. "Apparently, it's supposed to be a metaphor for how nice and friendly and warm and welcoming it is. To me, this is the ... the perfect metaphor for how sort of phony people are about the fact that they're being competitive. At the end of the day, it's still a rigidly hierarchical school. It's graded on a curve. Only a certain number of people can get in. There are big classes where people are fighting to be at the top, and it seems like that social dynamic is just too powerful to be completely overridden, no matter how hard you try to be nice."

    When competitive people work hard and don't get what they want, the result isn't pretty. "I think that often, they feel like what they thought was a mode of moving up in the world ends up just sort of stagnating them economically, and I think that, broadly speaking, people feel sort of bitter about that," Winterhalter says. "That certainly makes people more receptive to critiques of law school and to ideological examinations of what's going on."

    So, there you have it: Law school's perfect storm. As an educational institution, it admits highly ambitious students, pits them against each other with little attempt to level the financial playing field, and releases them into a market that can't absorb them. When students struggle, schools shrug and say they never guaranteed employment in the first place.

    But there's some evidence that law schools are taking steps to put out the fires. In the past few months, schools such as the University of Iowa, Penn State, and Roger Williams University have cut tuition.

    Even Corkery has some disarmingly practical advice for prospective lawyers. "You know, you might not be able to afford to go where you want to," he says. "I think tuition from public schools to private runs from around $13,000 to $16,000 a year, up to probably $56,000 to $57,000." Full-time tuition at John Marshall is $41,304 per year.

    "Now, where are those low-tuition law schools?" he adds. "They're just in pockets across the country. One thing you might do is explore schools with lower tuition and see if you can get admitted and work out financing to go there."

    Institutional reforms aside, maybe the best first step is a little more real talk.