José Niño
Are law schools on the verge of getting rid of testing requirements for law school admissions?
Spivey Consulting, a law school admissions consulting firm, revealed on May 5, 2022 that the American Bar Association is now recommending that the standardized test requirement for law school admissions be scrapped altogether.
Spivey Consulting referred to a memo that the ABA’s Strategic Review Committee published on April 25, which highlighted the SRC’s call for eliminating the “requirement that law schools use a valid and reliable admission test, although law schools of course remain free to require a test if they wish.”
There are legitimate critiques of admissions testing, but the ABA’s move to do away with testing requirements is a brash and unnecessary move. It’s also part of a broader social justice push to tear apart meritocratic structures in American society.
Testing is generally a strong indicator of intelligence and predictor of how successful an individual will be further down the line.
By repealing these requirements, institutions of higher learning would then be extending benefits to wealthy people who are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed and undeserving people who only obtain positions because they hit the right diversity checkmarks.
In relaxing admissions standards, many academic institutions experience a higher number of students failing classes and not being able to meet academic standards. And how will universities respond? Most will try to patch things up by introducing grade inflation and making it easier for students to pass classes.
The end result will have otherwise prestigious institutions churn out large numbers of students ill-prepared for the realities of a 21st century workforce. That’s what happens when institutions put diversity and social justice on a pedestal, while treating merit as an afterthought.
All told, this degradation of admission standards will engender large-scale mediocrity across society and make America less competitive on the world stage.
The small things count. Even the smallest relaxations in standards will eventually pile up and create the conditions for a debased economy and culture.
The US needs to go back to basics and embrace the meritocratic principles that once made it great.
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