Students Create 'Dear Me' Video To Warn Against Going To Law School

Law school students want their 16-year-old selves to know that law school will not be fun

Jon Ng, a third year law school student at the University of Calgary, recently made a video warning about the dangers of law school.

The satire video features a number of his classmates, and children of law students at the university, talking about how they'll alienate friends who aren't in law school when they cite case law at the Olive Garden, among other things. A small child in the video says "I want you to know, because of law school, I haven't seen my daddy in three years," as he holds up a photo of his family. (This line by the young boy has since been edited out)

Ng said it's a parody of the "Dear 16-year-old Me" video produced by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund to raise awareness for steps to take to prevent skin cancer. Ng said he thought that video was incredibly smart and actually studied engineering with one of the cancer survivors that appeared in it.

Ng's video was made for the University of Calgary annual Law Show talent show, which takes place in March. Ng said he's seen a lot of videos around the internet of law school students flaunting the prestige of being in law school, but he wanted to take a different route and poke fun at himself and fellow law school students.

"I much prefer finding the humour that gets lost in the hard work and flashy egos," Ng said in an email. "Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly proud of being a law student, but if a friend told me they wanted to go to law school, I'd sit them down for a long chat."

Ng wrote the script himself, and he even got one of his law professors to appear in the video.

"He immediately agreed to appearing in the video and surprisingly had no questions about the morose lines I wanted him to read," Ng said. "In fact, he actually polished off one of the lines to make it sound even more intimidating."

No one in the video objected to the lines because a lot of what they were saying is true, Ng said.

And by the way, yes, Ng, actually was president of his student council.

Comments

[Jonny Smyth]

04:31 PM on 03/20/2012

Dear 16 year old me,

Don't be Canadian.

[Richard Lipow]

07:50 AM on 03/02/2012

Dear Sixteen Year Old:

You were right. That decision 42 years ago lifted you out of near poverty, helped you find the love of your life and, provided you with a career that helped you help thousands of people. Sixteen Year Old, it's going to be hard. You will have hard work and long hours reading mind numbing things. You will make life long friends. You will take out loans and work to pay for school. You are going to have to deal with some difficult folks, lawyers, judges and clients. You are going to have moments of self doubt, but, it's all worth it. You will find yourself at the age of 57 looking back at a satisfying and fulfilling career. You will have made a difference in the lives of folks who have been injured, battered and or crushed by other folks, companies or the government. It's not going to be easy, but, you will be great. Go, study, enjoy, have a beer with your law school friends. By the way, don't listen to those law students in that video. Like most law students, while they are never in doubt, they are rarely correct.

[moderate1]

11:20 AM on 03/03/2012

Well said.

[jrward77]

02:17 PM on 03/01/2012

Your article glosses over that this is a direct parody of a video produced by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund (http://dcmf.ca/) designed to raise awareness of Melanoma, a lethal form of skin cancer. While I have no affiliation with the fund, I donated to help them continue raising awareness of Melanoma, especially given the amazing job they did on that video.

Whereas I was deeply moved when I first saw the DCMF video (because I had a recent brush with Melanoma myself), I was outraged and saddened when I saw the parody. It is extremely insensitive, whether deliberate or not (I choose to believe it was not meant to offend). At one point in the parody, a woman is crying over something about law school, and in the next scene a little boy holds up a picture of his daddy who is hasn't seen in 3yrs because of law school. In the original, the woman is crying because her husband died (and before that suffered immensely) from Melanoma; and the little boy hasn't seen his dad in years, because he's dead.

While I am glad the video was replaced with an alternate version with certain scenes removed, I really wish human decency would prevail it would just come down from youtube altogether. I was rattled to the core by this video, and I hardly had a taste of what sufferers of invasive melanoma and their friends and family have had to endure. Imagine how they must feel.

[Kurt Dowdle]

11:48 AM on 03/01/2012

Thirty years ago, I had the grades and the talent for law school. My parents wanted me to go. Even my significant other was all for it. Then my favorite professor talked me out of it. His terse commentary on law school was that it lasted for three years because that is how long it takes to have your conscience removed. I listened. My parents freaked. They remind me to this day what I could have done with my life. I took the entrepreneurial approach instead. I have since then shelled out over $250,000.00 in legal fees to handle silly things like an embezzling partner and fun stuff like that.

My younger brother is an attorney. He seems morally straight. I don't think I would have enjoyed being a lawyer though. I like what I do now.

Advice to my 16 year old self - Go ahead and listen to all those who care about you, then do what you want.

[lookskyward]

06:30 PM on 02/29/2012

At least you'll have an alternative to working at Target and maybe have a life independent from
your family.

[Sunshine Love]

10:40 AM on 02/29/2012

I do not see the big deal, I will be attending law school next fall. Cons: debt (if you don't have the cash) and the lingering assumption of not having a career after graduation? Silly un-ambitious individuals who lack networking skills guide. Self esteem problem? That doesn't even make sense, so I have low self esteem because I envision myself making 6 figure paychecks, being my own boss, simply by completing 3 additional years of college? Hmm, I wouldn't be surprised if most of those people who are in that video still work minimum wage jobs, and most likely dropped out of college to make this mediocre college PSA ad. Idiots. Get back to that minimum wage jobs you guys are set to do for life, peasants! =)

[TooKrunk]

11:06 AM on 02/29/2012

Since you're going to law school you might want to start reading a little more closely. These "idiots" didn't drop out of school. The video was made for the University of Calgary annual talent show by students in the law school. From the tone of your post it seems like you have the unearned sense of entitlement and condescending attitude down already, so keep it up and good luck in law school!

[Sunshine Love]

11:37 PM on 02/29/2012

You people continue to assume or believe the stigma's about debt about college and grad schools with no empirical experiences. It isn't my concern what so ever... I stated facts about what was provided during that mediocre video. Woohoo, you graduated high school, because you read this silly post with the video bonus and managed to summarize the two in one paragraph. Bravo.

[Mark Bruder]

05:00 PM on 02/29/2012

If you want a six-figure paycheck, law school ain't the place to get it.

[Jeff Rosenbury]

10:04 AM on 03/23/2012

Most such paychecks come from either sales or accounting. Engineering can also pull down the low end of that.

Lawyers are hit or miss. Good ones can make that, but no one hires losers. Consistent winners are rare (maybe 10%). There's a fair chance you will end up in debt and flipping burgers.

[Heywood Jablowmie]

08:06 PM on 02/28/2012

You get all kinds of lawyers.

Some don't sell out for the buck.

[Jeff Rosenbury]

08:04 PM on 03/23/2012

Do you live on a unicorn farm?

[Lynda Strawshi Cacha]

06:29 PM on 02/28/2012

This one should go " Dear 9-years-old me ... " for me.

[champagne charlie]

05:46 PM on 02/28/2012

A law degree has become as valuable and marketable as a degree in philosophy. "Would you like fries with that?" should be the first legal term students learn at law school!

[samgoblue]

06:44 PM on 03/03/2012

Please corroborate that claim. Sure law school is worthless if you go to a third rate lawyer-mill, but if you go to top twenty like I intend to, what's the harm in having a JD (a doctorate, mind you) and maybe even a Masters in Public Policy to boot? In a world where even a BA no longer quite cuts it, why not take every opportunity to forge and cultivate new analytical and comprehension skills. People like you (forgive my presumption if I'm wrong) are obsessed with the idea that a law degree is worthless as a qualificatory booster (i.e., resume booster); what about the actual skills you accumulate over the course of a 3-5 year JD and/or MPP program? In such a circumstances (T20, JD/MPP...) a law degree is certainly still quite valuable.

[champagne charlie]

08:24 PM on 03/03/2012

Dream on future fry cook!

[champagne charlie]

08:25 PM on 03/03/2012

I hope you like adjusting insurance claims.

[cornflower]

01:56 PM on 02/28/2012

I thought they were going to give the real reason - you'll go into debt to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars and you won't get a job when you're done!

[Unlicensed Dremel]

10:48 AM on 03/05/2012

This! Cornflower hit the nail on the head. It's about the debt, not the law school or education itself. If you can do it without debt, it's a very good thing. Just avoid student loans like the PLAGUE! This goes for undergraduate even more than law school - trust me on this one.

[cornflower]

06:17 AM on 03/06/2012

If you want decent employment, law school m ay not be a good idea with or without debt.

[CAhye]

12:20 PM on 02/28/2012

its 3 - 4 years of school!!! you can do it!!!