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Legal Studies Program Links:
Curriculum Guide Links:
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How Legal Studies at Earlham are Different
Earlham has at least two goals in teaching Legal Studies:
Our more modest purpose is to teach law so that you can pick up a newspaper and understand the issues
involved in a current legal controversy, such as hate speech, gun control, the environment, abortion, civil
liberties, national security, airline regulation, or product liability. Our more ambitious purpose is to teach existing legal rules and doctrines, with their underlying policy
arguments, so that you can think about these arguments, prepare to join the conversation, and let your own voice be heard.
If we achieve our goals, you will not be uncritically loyal or uncritically hostile to the laws and
institutions that you inherit. Rather, you will have learned what these laws and institutions are while
thinking about what they ought to be.
Our aim then is not to narrow your career choices but to expand them. We want to dispel the ignorance and confusion
about law that make too many people feel helpless in public and private affairs, and which can lead to lives of
civic incompetence, in effect letting other people take the lead. We want to prepare you for a life of critical
reflection, engagement with questions of public policy, and conscientious action, whether it be inside or outside
the legal profession. |
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