30-03-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
A License to Cheat in Law-School Classrooms
Regarding Jillian Lederman's 'Disabilities Act Becomes a License to Cheat' (op-ed, March 21): Testing accommodations are also an engine for inequity among aspiring lawyers. Generally, a student's grade in a law-school course depends on a single final exam. Professors grade those on a strict curve, meaning only a handful of students can get top marks. These tests are thus high-stakes, zero-sum affairs in which even a slight advantage can set a student apart.
Many of my peers at a premier law school are now are using testing accommodations to obtain that edge. My conservative estimate is that a fifth of students at my law school get extended time to take their exams. Some reportedly get double time—i.e., eight hours to complete an exam designed to take four.
