quote:Parents may get lucky and get hired on by a firm with on-site day care, but in law or any other professioanl environment parents are expected to handle their childcare arrangments independent of the workplace. It is unfortunate that some parents have to be inconvenienced by their childcare options or that they have to make "tough choices" about whether to parent or go to school, but that doesn't mean that every one else should have to share in thier inconvenienced.
Mig, I find your attitude toward this more than a bit backwardl. I have many professional women friends, in fields from medicine to engineering to law, and and many of them have been allowed and even encouraged to bring their infant children into the professional workplace. Several have had the company provide a crib in the office, others have on site day care.
Here at the University, even some of my male collegues frequently bring a child to work with them. One professor frequently brought had his baby in his office, another frequently has an 8 year old around. This isn't unprofessional. It is the future of the professional workplace and more and more companies are recognizing that allowing parents to have children in the workplace is a good thing for both the parents and the company.
Of course there are places where it will always be inappropriate to have young children, such as laboratories or manufacturing floors. But children can be accomodated in many professional settings without disrupting. For tens of thousands of years, Humans performed all types of work with their children in tow. If we are creative and open minded about what it means to be "professional", there is no reason that we can't accomadate children in the modern working environment. More and more employers are recognizing that if they want to attract the kind of employees who are also good parents, they need to find creative ways to accomodate parenting in the workplace.
It isn't just a matter of luck that some employers provide on site day care.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Whew. I saw the replie number go down from 51 to 50 and thought you had deleted your post, Rabbit. (Not that it makes any sense at all for me to assume the last one posted was the one deleted.)
I'm glad you didn't delete it. The big downside of my hoped for practice area is that court is one of those no-children places, for good reason, so I won't get the advantage of liberalization in these matters. But I'm glad it is changing, and hope it continues to improve.
It's kind of ironic that my firm job will be more family friendly in some ways than a much shorter-houred prosecution job will be once I get one.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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No problem - I assumed it was something like that. I was coming back to comment on Rabbit's post and saw the number had changed.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:[Ed. Note: Due to a new editorial policy, ANG will only express judgment in cases of clear consensus among law students. For everything else, ANG will attempt to be “fair and balanced.”]
They didn't publish my letter, probably due to it being later than so many others. The best was signed by 25 professors:
quote:We were dismayed to see the “Thumbs down to the Law School Baby” item in the March 17 issue of the Law Weekly. Many of us bring our children to the Law School at times, sometimes because our child care arrangements have fallen through, and sometimes just for fun (kids like the goldfish).
The Law School has traditionally welcomed the guests of students and faculty, regardless of age: at times, people also bring spouses, parents, significant others, and friends into the building. When members of our community bring guests into our building, they obviously undertake to ensure that their guests will not behave in a way that is disruptive to the Law School’s educational mission, and the standard should be the same for babies and children. If a baby is crying loudly outside a classroom or near the library, for instance, courteous parents promptly take the baby elsewhere. But as far as we are concerned, well-behaved and well-supervised children are always welcome. We have always taken pride in how family-friendly this Law School is, and we hope it will remain that way.
If nothing else, it's clear that the law school community doesn't support the sentiments informing the original joke.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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At my law school, we had a similar incident, where a 1L who had only been at school for three weeks wrote a letter to the student "newspaper" criticizing all the married law students for having so many dad gum kids and for bringing them (HORRORS!!) to the law school picnic at the beginning of the term. Most of us just ignored the article (partly because it was very poorly written and confusing).
Me, I'd like to write a letter about the cluster of students by my desk who insist on arguing about Israeli-Palestinian relations AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS! I know, I know, the professional response would be for me to politely tell them, a la Bart Simpson, "Milhouse, use your INdoor voice."
Posts: 196 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: I submitted it. I hope it gets published.
Well for one (I seem to be in the minority), I think its a little hinky (not the right word exactly) for Dag to get involved at all. This is something for the parents to adress; I think your throwing your two cents in will only make them wonder why you care so much. Not that I don't agree with you, just thinking of how this will be viewed when printed, you might look like your just piling on, that's its really all about you.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Not at all, Orincoro. If I was the parent, I know I would have been terribly embarrased about being singled out in the previous article/letter, and would probably be too wounded to respond, feeling like everyone was thinking the same thing about me.
Having the other students write in and rally in support of the parents is a very very good thing.
Dag - glad to see it worked out and even the faculty voiced their opinion!
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Well for one (I seem to be in the minority), I think its a little hinky (not the right word exactly) for Dag to get involved at all. This is something for the parents to adress; I think your throwing your two cents in will only make them wonder why you care so much. Not that I don't agree with you, just thinking of how this will be viewed when printed, you might look like your just piling on, that's its really all about you.
An opinion was expressed - at least partially in my name - which I disagree with. Silence is often interpreted as consent or agreement, and I was not about to lend either to the opinion.
Rohan, that sounds utterly ridiculous. Not a good way to start a law school career.
posted
Well, I still like your letter better. But I'm glad to see so many come down on the side of good and right. (And to think, they're all lawyers! )
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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![[Wink]](wink.gif)
But I'm glad to see so many come down on the side of good and right. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
(And to think, they're all lawyers! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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