Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
FRANCIS JOHNS: The best way to think about Foundations of Law is that foundations has
two meanings. So first, the origins or the basis of the Australian legal system and the
other are the essential skills that you need in order to pursue your degree as well as
practice. This subject is seminar based so there are
small groups, no lectures and it means that the students are going to learn through interacting
with each other, through discussing contentious cases. What we have is an engaging and interesting
atmosphere I think. There are resources in the law faculty for
first-year students. For example, we have a peer mentoring program where students in
later years assist the younger students. We use UTS online a lot, so for specific assessment
tasks we'll use the discussion board. We use the announcements function quite a lot so
you need to keep up-to-date with what's on UTS online. And we also have some podcasts
and vodcasts which help students understand various elements of the subject. Also another
thing which is a little bit less direct, which is the Brennan Program and what that does
is it encourages first-year students to enter into a program of community service and that's
already having an impact when it comes to employment and the profile of the faculty
amongst the major law firms because they can see that our students have a broader perspective
on the world. And the students who are straight from school, they're used to being at the
top of their class in high school and suddenly when they're in law everyone's at their level,
and suddenly the challenges are quite different, so the marks they get may not be what they
expect. But this is normal -- you're starting from scratch. And for the postgraduate students
the surprise in law is that, in law, you're thinking in a particular way, that there's
a mode of thinking in law which people from other disciplines sometimes find it difficult
to get around. The best advice I can give to a new student
starting at UTS is that in a class don't be afraid to ask a question because you think
you might appear foolish. I can guarantee that if you're confused about something most
of the class is as well so no one's going to be thinking what a stupid question, they're
all going to be thinking thank goodness somebody asked that question.
When it comes to any tertiary study I think you need to choose what you're enthusiastic
about rather than what other people expect from you.
So if the question is: I'm not really sure about whether I want to do law or not. What's
the most concise response? There are all sorts of things I could say: follow your dreams,
follow your heart. We live for quite a long time -- 80 or 90
years -- that no decision that you make now is going to really have such a dramatic impact
on the rest of your life. So don't be scared of making a decision, that's probably the
advice. All the teachers here have been in your position,
so they've also been students. So if you have personal problems, any sorts of difficulties,
they're going to be sympathetic and I think UTS is a particularly supportive university.