PrintSelling black lawyers a bill of goods
Arguing from the facts——that black students admitted to law schools under affirmative action programs which place them in more competitive schools than they would otherwise be admitted to drop out more frequently, do less well than their classmates, fail the bar more frequently, inter alia — Stuart Taylor Jr. says perhaps it's time to require such schools to send the following warning to AA admittees:
But law schools should at least end what Sander calls the "pervasive public dissembling" by which they have concealed the costs imposed by preferences on their own black students, especially the many who will invest years of their lives and thousands of dollars without ever becoming lawyers. The law schools should start by adding something like the following warning message (my words, not Sander's) to their congratulatory letters to admitted black applicants:
"In choosing among law schools, you should be aware that our racial preferences in admissions have costs as well as benefits. About half of our black students end up in the bottom tenth of their classes. While we have done our utmost to help them succeed, their dropout rates are far higher, and their bar—exam passage rates far lower, than those of our other students.
"If you choose a less selective school, you are likely to be more successful academically. Indeed, according to one study, you may even have a better chance of passing the bar —— a point vigorously disputed by other studies. We hope that you will take your chances here and will be glad you did."
Such a warning would no doubt be discordant. But would it be worse than selling would—be black lawyers a bill of goods?
Perhaps some shrewd class action lawyers will find representing the injured students a promising new area to which to turn their attentions now that the cigarette and asbestos fields have been so extensively plowed.
Clarice Feldman 12 9 04
