Law, medicine, education

There was a time when law and medicine were affordable in this country. There was a time when nearly anyone could become a lawyer or a doctor. That was before our colleges changed the system.

Abraham Lincoln was admitted to the State Bar of Illinois in 1837 after spending 3 years reading and studying Blackstone's book, Commentaries on the Laws of England. Lincoln had a total of 18 months of formal education in his entire life. Now it takes a minimum of 19 years of formal education to become an attorney, 7 of that in a University.

If you want to make something (anything) cheaper, you need to either increase supply or decrease demand. The way to increase the supply of either doctors or lawyers is to make becoming a doctor or lawyer easier without hurting the quality.

Four years of this education is spent getting a Bachelor's degree. Anyone who has a degree will tell you that the first two years of the four required to earn a Bachelor's degree is spend studying subjects that have exactly zero to do with being a doctor or lawyer.

The standard excuse is that you become a more well rounded person when you study the unrelated subjects. My response to you is that when I go to the doctor, or hire a layer, I do not care how well rounded you are, I only care whether or not you are a good doctor or lawyer.