Why can't JDs teach in political science departments?
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Anonymous
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The ABA has noted that the JD and PhD are equivalent levels of education.
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/misc/legal_education/Standards/2013_2014_council_statements.authcheckdam.pdf So why do political science departments consider one path of study (the PhD) more qualified than another (the JD)? The study of law should provide an adequate knowledge about American government, at the very least. In fact, I feel that with the study of law, one might even have a better understanding of government than in any other field, since American government is primarily based on the supreme law of the land, the United States Constitution. |
Anonymous
| Because you need to produce original research to get a PhD. You do not for a JD. That being said, JDs can and do teach in law schools. JD who are successful enough in government can pick their political science department if that is what they choose do do after retiring |
Anonymous
| In law school, you spend time learning how to read case law and how to research case law. You spend far less time with statutory interpretation, but you do spend some time there. You can have as little as one class in con law and even that is more concerned with caselaw than the actual Constitution. If you actually learn anything about how the government functions, it's incidental |
Anonymous
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ABA governs the legal profession, not the academy in other fields. How is this even a question?
I have a trucker's license. Why can't I teach professional swimming? |
Anonymous
| OP, it sounds like you want to be a tenured political science professor on the cheap. You didn’t care to invest the time to get a PhD, yet you want their job. And if you got their job, you’d probably argue that you should be paid like a law professor because it’s a market alternative. You sound insufferable. |
Anonymous
| I know plenty of lawyers who teach in universities (ex: GW Elliott School of International Affairs). However, I don't know if they're tenured or if they teach political science classes specifically. |
Anonymous
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Why WOULD a JD be qualified to teach political science? I have a JD - from a top Ivy law school! - and I don't know squat about political science.
Do you have a record of research and writing showing you do have that expertise? |
Anonymous
Lol. What an unintentionally hilarious post. |
Anonymous
| They can; there's no rule against it. They just won't be hired to teach most classes unless they have other expertise. But it doesn't work the other way...in most states, a person with a PhD can't take the bar exam. |
Anonymous
+1 Love this, thank you. |
Anonymous
| As much as some law school professors try to pretend it isn't true a JD is a preprofessional degree - it is a pre-req to take the bar and practice law, not to teach political science to undergrads. The ABA has no bearing on how academia views a JD. This is such a weird comment |
Anonymous
political science is heavy into numbers and math. Lawyers don't do those. |
Anonymous
It doesn't even do that. IT's a trade association for lawyers. Many never join. Too expensive. Too left. And note that the "proclamations" that OP cites are just that and advisory. The document isn't worth the paper it's printed on (if it's printed anywhere) |
Anonymous
FWIW our 3L dissertations at Harvard Law were supposed to be original research. Mine was, and was published in several journals. But that does not make me qualified to teach a poli sci course |
Anonymous
| As someone with a JD who took a couple Poli Sci classes in college (but it was not my major or minor): I would not be remotely qualified to teach that class. We read a lot of philosophy in those classes, not the kind of thing you learn as a JD at all. |