Taylor's Graduate Capabilities
Throughout the course of my academic learning in Taylor's Law School, as well as the key extra-curricular activities which I have participated in, it goes without saying that I have learned a great deal and developed as a person both mentally and intellectually. Having discussed and described my experiences as well as my personal reflections on both my modules in Semester 1 of Law School as well as my debating career and work experience, this section of my reflection is where my reflections will be grounded and applied in the context of the Taylor's Graduate Capabilities (TGCs), a list of which can be located at the bottom of this post.
The first TGC, Discipline Specific Knowledge, applies to me in several ways. Firstly, throughout the modules I have taken this semester, I have gained a greater understanding of how the law operates in reality, as well as the principles behind them. While most of the modules constituted academic knowledge which was specific to Law, subjects such as Legal Skills have developed my practical knowledge of the law and practical skills such as oratory skills and legal writing, while my professional knowledge of the legal scene was expanded through a series of guest lectures which were informative and promoted my understanding of the way the law works in reality. This also assisted me in putting legal theories in practice, as it is one thing to be able to comprehend legal theories and principles, and another thing to put them into practice. From this, it is my belief that within my field of study of law, Legal Skills has served as a bridge in connecting me to the theories which I was taught. The study of Constitutional Law assisted me in my understanding of ethical issues in the field of my study. This is because the thought process and rationalization of what each and every law means, as well as the philosophies involved, calls into question the ethicality and adequacy of the law at its very core. However, law school aside, my work experience at a law firm greatly enhanced my ability to understand professional practice, as it provided me with arguably the most intricate experiences, from creating bundles of documents which would be used in courts the next day, to meeting and greeting clients brought me as close as I would ever get to the professional practice of law. It also laid the foundations to my understanding in law, as I had the privilege of being taught and educated on parts of law such as civil procedure by my pupil master, which I have yet to learn in law school. The experience not only compounded my legal thinking, but also helped me understand the bigger picture of legal practice, particularly when coupled with legal knowledge from class through my modules. Last but not least, my opinions and thoughts about ethics within law was developed the most through my experience debating. This was because I had the opportunity to debate many law-related motions, which called into question ethical issues such as the role of the State and when State overreach is justified, if ever, as well as other issues, such as if compromising civil liberties in the name of national security is a worthy trade-off. While my understanding of the issues has grown, debating has undoubtedly helped me think deeper about the syllabus, such as my position on Human Rights and what my conceptions of the law should be.
The second TGC I would like to discuss within this reflection is Lifelong Learning. While I must make the point that my ability to learn independently stems from within, given my personal preference for personal and independent learning as a result of my upbringing and formative environment, it is my belief that my academic study at Taylor's Law School greatly strengthened my ability to learn independently. Away from the 'spoonfeeding' environment which was previously present throughout my academic life, I initially struggled with the necessity to read judgements through the night in order to understand a tutorial question, as lecturers insisted we self-study and take the initiative to answer unresolved questions on our own, which resulted in me to utilizing all the relevant resources I had to get answers to my queries. Now that the period of transition is nearing its end, I can say with certainty that the ability to learn independently has been developed greatly through my legal education at Taylor's Law School. In addition to independent learning, I believe that both my legal education and my experience working at a law firm have helped me greatly in locating, extracting and utilizing information effectively. This is because from both these experiences I learned to not only discover new data in the form of legal journals and case law on LexisNexis and Westlaw, I was taught to utilize them to my advantage and to focus on the legal principles behind judgments and cases. Locating and extracting data matters, but also to be able to apply it and use it to aid my understanding is crucial to me deriving any form of benefit from the process. Lastly, where intellectual engagement is concerned, I believe that given the holistic nature of intellectual engagement, it is hard to single out or to give credit to any one activity or field of study for promoting my intellectual engagement, but in addition to the personal reflections in other pages, I can state that collectively, my critical thinking and ability to comprehend the matter taught to me are the outcome of all my experiences put together. For example, through debating I have learned to examine an issue from many different perspectives, law lectures and class activities provided legal analysis and taught me the principles behind those issues, and work experience added a practical touch to the issues so that I may understand them in real life.
The third TGC, thinking and problem solving skills, resonates greatly with my involvement in debating. While learning to construct and deconstruct arguments on the spot with minimal time (15 minutes to prepare), it is not a bold claim that most of my best quotes and sayings in life have been created on the spot when giving a speech. This is because I am able to think critically about a problem and arrive at solutions and reasons to justify it through years of training. My creative thinking was bolstered through debating as I oftentimes had to come up with new arguments on the spot as the opening team on my bench would have taken and made the arguments I had in mind. In high-pressure situations as such, with the intention of claiming victory in a debate round, the ability to think critically was fostered in me as I sought to exploit openings or gaps in argumentation, as well as to consider different stakeholders in a debate to remain relevant. For example, in a debate about the Iraq War, I critically considered the role of Private Military Contractors (PMCs) in America and their role in encouraging the United States to go to war in Iraq given their profit motive, and how they are given the license to shoot and kill given their role in acting on behalf of the United States alongside national soldiers, and how this leads to a greater likelihood of harm to innocent Iraqi civilians and how immoral it is for war to be waged in the name of profit and financial gain. The solution which I identified to that problem was to ban lobbying of any sorts by PMCs in the U.S. Senate and Congress, given the political pressure this puts on Senators and Congressmen to stand in favour of war, even where it may not be necessary nor in the national interests of the United States of America. This is a typical example of how debating has greatly contributed to the development of my critical and creative thought, and analysed problems to arrive at effective solutions to prevent them from recurring. In addition to the above, these skills were honed again in tutorials, where I am oftentimes vocal and take part in class discussions pertaining to questions and legal issues. The process of preparing for these tutorials also promotes my problem-solving skills, as the problems and questions solved were in a legal context, whereas debating dealt more with foreign policy, social and economic issues. All in all, I conclude that my active involvement in both law school and debate has resulted in a very solid foundation in problem solving and thinking.
The fourth TGC present concerns the communication skills which I have acquired. My communication skills were primarily developed in tutorial classes and video and oral assignments, where I put the lessons learned in debate training and Legal Skills lectures to good use. Oftentimes it is believed that speaking as much as possible constitutes knowledge, but I believe that proving a point effectively is best done through the careful selection of as few words as possible to promote clarity and to ensure that the party who one communicates with is able to understand the message, instead of being confused. Furthermore, I learned the importance of good manner when speaking, such as the importance of good posturing and appropriate hand gestures, to speak slowly as I have a bad habit of speaking too quickly, which has at times cost me victory in debate rounds. The inculcation of these habits has led me to not only be a more persuasive speaker, but also a more effective one. This comes as my grammar and vocabulary were solidified through my involvement in public speaking, and is put to good use in class discussions as I learned from experience how important the role of clarity is in communication. On a supplementary note, debating massively contributed to my fluency in the English Language, as intensive training and workshops helped to develop me into a confident and articulate public speaker. Therefore I believe the TGC of communication skills is one which I have developed well in, but I anticipate the challenges which lie ahead in Mooting and my present involvement in Model United Nations (MUN).
The fifth TGC, interpersonal skills, was largely derived from group assignments done throughout the course of my legal education and debating. Through the course of doing assignments in a group, I have learned to give and take, be tolerant and patient towards the needs of my group members, while trying my best to make sure I am not a burden to them where time and effort are concerned. Effective communication was crucial here as we had to be flexible and accommodate each other's struggles while embracing their strengths for the collective success of the group. In those ways, I learned how to understand team dynamics and to mobilise everyone's strengths towards the successful completion of the task at hand. In my Tort group, leadership was an opportunity to lead the group in proposing content to be used, where I learnt that it is not only important to value positively the contribution of everyone in the group, as a disillusioned and demotivated group would not be productive and hence the quality of work would be harmed, but also to coordinate and ensure that everyone does their part and plays their role so that accusations and internal conflict would not occur because claims of injustice and unfairness arise from another member not pulling their weight. In these ways, the insight I attained from assignments such as this is unique and valuable to the leadership experiences I attained throughout my debating experience, which was to communicate effectively in a team, even if we did not see eye to eye on arguments or even the definition of the motion. I am happy to claim that after two years of experience and countless tournaments attended, I no longer have many problems in this respect, although I recognize the path to mastering interpersonal skills remains a long and arduous one, given the different capacities and problems I can expect to face throughout my legal education and subsequent legal career in the future.
The sixth TGC I would like to elaborate on is the Intrapersonal skills I have attained through my educational journey in life. The ability to manage myself and to be independent, as well as to reflect my actions was present across my reflections thus far, but I want to focus on how I embody the core values of Taylor's University. The core values of Taylor's University I have yet to elaborate on, which are respecting and caring for each other, being dedicated to achieving excellence, and being passionate about my work. My commitment and dedication has been and always will be clear, from representing Taylor's University at tournaments to the work I do as a student within this educational institution. I always go the extra mile when doing work, simply because I want it to be the best possible work I can do. It is my belief that I am not only doing myself injustice by failing to give my all, but also the people who contributed towards my education and learning. Although I had admittedly previously not prioritized giving my all, especially in college and high school where I somewhat compromised academic excellence for debating, but this realisation which I made before stepping into law school has ensured that academic commitments are my utmost priority, which also explains my unwavering passion and commitment to the work I do in the pursuit of excellence. Lastly, respect has always been and always be a key distinction of my identity, as I personally know what it feels like to be taken advantage of and to be undervalued and not respected and valued. It is that knowledge which propels me and reminds me that no matter how frustrated I get when the going gets tough, there is a line of respect and care I will have for everyone, regardless of who they are and what they have done. At the end of the day, we are all humans, regardless of the path we have taken in life, and it is only morally just that we tolerate, respect and care for each other regardless of our differences to a reasonable extent.
Debating plays a large role in the seventh TGC, Citizenship and Global Perspectives. Having had the opportunity to represent my previous institution at Asians British Parliamentary, Asia's largest debating tournament, and Malaysia Worlds 2015, the world's largest debate tournament and competing against internationally renowned teams such as the University of Victoria from Australia and the National University of Singapore, I am not only aware of diverse opinions which are formed, I also am able to reconstruct and engage with them intellectually. This adds to not only my cultural sensitivity and tolerance, but also enlightened me of the perspectives which other institutions use when approaching debating and pertinent issues in life, which has also contributed towards my sense of civic responsibility. As a future lawyer, I look forward to pro bono work, which explains my volunteering in the Legal Aid Centre to get a glimpse of the necessity and means I can help people with. This awareness, of the necessity to defend and assist the lowest common denominator of society, which are oftentimes the poor and the vulnerable, stems from debating as it has made me emphatize with their plight and humanized the news we are often desensitized to. I look forward to being further humanized about the suffering prevalent but ignored in our society through my future involvement in available channels and avenues.
Lastly, I believe that my digital literacy has greatly increased given the emphasis placed on E-learning and the usage of technology throughout the course of my legal education at Taylor's Law School. Examples of this include the usage of computers in creating video presentations, the reliance on the Internet for resources and further fact-finding, and the tech-savviness required in using software such as TiMES and the Taylor's portal to access lecture-related information. These activities, now habits after continuous exposure, have undoubtedly increased the effectiveness of my usage of technology and digital literacy as a student.
Conclusively, it is my belief that I embody the Tayor's Graduate Capabilities on a preliminary to moderate level at present, but I look forward to having them develop further throughout my second semester, and possibly even my second year at Taylor's University, as my greatest fears lie not within failure, but rather a failure to learn and develop.
