Ron DeSantis says three years of law school is a ‘waste’

Gov. Ron DeSantis continued his recent tradition of unsolicited critiques of higher education, saying Friday that current three-year law school tracks are a “waste.”

“You don’t need three years for law school,” DeSantis, a Harvard Law product, said in Naples Friday, where he was rolling out a job growth grant award to expand vocational offerings.

“Some of these degrees you see. You know, I went to law school; you don’t need three years for law school,” DeSantis divulged. “I mean, seriously, you don’t. You could do it probably in one. Definitely in two. You don’t need three.”

“It’s a waste,” DeSantis continued. “And there’s other degrees where they make you do more years than you need to. We don’t want them toiling for no reason. Get the skills and go out there and put them to use.”

Harvard, for its part, doesn’t seem inclined to compress law school into a year or two, according to its FAQ page.

“The J.D. degree requires three years of full-time study, and new students begin their studies only in the fall semester of each year. Apart from practicing lawyers, we have no part-time, distance, online, or summer programs,” the prestigious school writes.

DeSantis’ comments on the overlong law school calendar track with a recent history of curious ruminations as he attempts to sell vocational educational initiatives. Just recently, the Governor (also a graduate of Yale University) said it was a “good sign” that college-aged men are not pursuing traditional higher education.

DeSantis, previously addressing the International Boatbuilders Exhibition in Tampa, suggested men aren’t going to college as much as women because they are shunning traditional higher education for trades.

“There was actually an article in The Wall Street Journal recently about, you know, ‘decline in college for men,’ or something,” DeSantis continued, deepening his voice briefly for comic effect to introduce the article highlighting that three in five college students are now women, with men feeling “lost.”

“I guess there was a decline in the number of men, the percentage of men going to college or whatever. And they acted like this was a bad thing. And honestly, like, you know, to me, I think that is probably a good sign,” the Governor added.

“Because I think people are looking at this, and they’re acknowledging, you know, some of these universities are not giving you very much for your money. You’re not necessarily going to get ahead in that.”

DeSantis, who recently spotlighted the top-five ranking for the University of Florida, saved the balance of those remarks for the boatbuilders rather than the reporters on hand for that event earlier this month in Gainesville.

The Wall Street Journal article, published earlier this month, notes that there are 1.5 million fewer college students today than there were five years ago and that men accounted for 71% of the decline at both two-year and four-year schools.