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Law School Numbers

-- By JonathanBoustani - 13 Feb 2008

Intro: Form over Substance

In truth, there are only two items on a law school application that boards of admission pay any attention to: GPA and LSAT score. In this system, earning good grades becomes a student’s primary focus. In an ideal world, the end to which students should strive is a mastery of the subject matter. In reality, however, the desire to learn is often supplanted by the desire to get an A. Due to the institutionalization of grades and tests scores as the measuring stick of academic merit, substance has been sacrificed for form in the education system in general and law schools in particular.

Grades as focus instead of education and the Regrettable Consequences

The role of grades in the education system becomes avidly apparent upon entering high school. Teachers and parents repeatedly stress the importance of good grades. Students are told good grades in high school lead to a good university which leads to a better university and eventually a respectable, well-paying job. In short, good grades lead to respectable jobs. Nowhere in this plan is the relative importance of actual learning stressed. Top grades are the goal. Universities and job markets have made it this way. They make grades the ultimate measure of a student’s worth. Recognizing this, teachers, students, and schools make grades the benchmark of achievement. This leads to a number of unwanted results in our education system and our society.

Devaluation of Academic Degrees

One of these regrettable consequences is the devaluation of academic degrees. A high school degree is worth less than it was 50 years ago. This is due partly to the increasing requirements for specialized knowledge in job markets. However, for the most part, this can be attributed to a decrease in the quality of education received at high schools around the nation. In high school, teachers often teach to the lowest common denominator in a classroom of mixed abilities. This often works to the detriment of all students involved. Better students are not challenged while mediocre students are not pushed. Rather than attaining a mastery of high school subjects, students reach only a minimum competency. They must often take a number of remedial courses in college to fill gaps left by a substandard(relative to many other developed nations) high school education.

Focus on Grades leads to Absenteeism and Acts as a Disincentive for Actual Learning

This devaluation in degrees does not stop at high school. It continues on to many degrees procured from reputable colleges and universities. In this environment, the focus on grades leads students to exert the minimum effort to achieve a desired grade. Students will often slack off during the course of the semester and then cram for finals. Soon after the exam, however, students will forget all but the rudiments of what they learned in the past semester. As a corollary to this type of behavior in college, absenteeism rises and learning diminishes as a classroom is deprived of the voices, opinions, and ideas of numerous students. A degree earned through repetition of such acts leads to a student who has nothing but a simplistic grasp of the material that he should have mastered in order to acquire such a degree.

Grade Inflation and Eradication of Meaningful Distinctions between Students

Another deplorable result of institutions’ unholy enshrinement of grades and test scores is grade inflation. Differences in grades come to mean less and meaningful distinctions between students cease to exist. In high school the trend of grade inflation means that students are receiving higher and higher grades while doing nothing to deserve them. In law school, the range of grades is narrowed to B- to A+. Nobody fails. Mediocrity is rewarded. Minimal labor can lead to a passing mark. This leads many students to put forth significantly less than their best effort. The grade scale becomes top-heavy and the majority of students receive grades in the B range. Distinctions between students are cut down so that law schools can maintain a reputation for academic excellence. This system demonstrates an institutional organization that once again favors form over substance.

Law School as an Example of Educational decline

Admittance Procedure

The problems with law school and its underlying principles are demonstrated first in the admission process. Law school focuses on unsupported numbers to grant admission. In doing so, they may pass over applicants with a true passion to succeed. Often, the applicants whose desire to enter law is based solely on making money or securing a respectable, stable job are the ones being accepted. In the end, I believe those with genuine passion for a calling will be the most successful. Many of those with this drive however will lack the numbers to gain admittance to schools where their opportunities will be maximized.

Law School Sytem and Conclusion

Upon admittance, law students enter a system that repeatedly demonstrates institutional emphasis on appearances and reputation. Grading systems are manipulated to present schools in the best light. Students are funneled into summer jobs based mostly on grades that often do not reflect the aptitude of a student for actual legal work. Rather, these grades reflect his test-taking skills and the knowledge he was able to retain over a semester. This knowledge will often dissipate after finals yet firms seem to view grades as the ultimate measure of a student’s potential to succeed as a lawyer. Granted, exemplary grades do tend to demonstrate a certain level of intelligence, discipline, and hard work. However, they do not accurately encapsulate a student’s potential or the likelihood that he will succeed as a lawyer. This is just one demonstration of a focus on appearance by law school administrators. The whole system is designed to provide law firms with students who have the appearance of excellence rather than ensuring actual quality.

Overall, the grading systems established in law schools and other academic institutions are indicative of an education system with reversed priorities. Indeed, this education system may be indicative of a society suffering from similar problems. A change must be made to bring focus back to substantive learning in order to enable our students to achieve their true potential.

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