Many have argued that the LSAT unfairly prevents racial and ethnic minorities from getting into law school.
However, one law school professor recently defended the LSAT from those who argue it's a form of racial discrimination. While he admits that the LSAT may not be a perfect predictor of ability in law school, he argues that it serves a valuable purpose, and in the absence of anything better, we'd might as well keep it.
Here's a key excerpt:
See pages 378-388 of the PDF for the entire section about the LSAT. He also discusses some potential alternatives to the LSAT.
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What do you think? Does the LSAT racially discriminate? What real alternatives, if any, do we have?
Photo by enviied
However, one law school professor recently defended the LSAT from those who argue it's a form of racial discrimination. While he admits that the LSAT may not be a perfect predictor of ability in law school, he argues that it serves a valuable purpose, and in the absence of anything better, we'd might as well keep it.
Here's a key excerpt:
While we do need supplemental measures for prediction to get students who can make it through law school into the profession, we also need to know about those who cannot. Hard as it is to take in, there are apparently 150,000 law school graduates who have never passed the bar exam, and they deserved the law schools’ best judgment regarding their likely success as much as do those more likely to succeed. Ethical issues are not the only ones in play. Who is going to defend the law schools when these students sue, claiming that they were taken advantage of much like the borrowers in the housing debacle who succumbed to the blandishments of the mortgage brokers? The larger point is that law schools need to think harder about these students. Test critics, only somewhat understandably, completely ignore their existence.
See pages 378-388 of the PDF for the entire section about the LSAT. He also discusses some potential alternatives to the LSAT.
***
What do you think? Does the LSAT racially discriminate? What real alternatives, if any, do we have?
Photo by enviied