An Urban Legend
On December 18, 2009, I posted a blog entitled ” What Has The World Come To” about a disturbing event that allegeldly occurred during the California Bar Examination. According to the story, one of the test takers fell ill and while others stopped taking the exam to help him, they were not allowed to make up the time to finish the test.
I received an e mail from James Karney[mailto:jkarney@mindspring.com] advising that the story is an urban legend.
He writes:
”As a former cop with EMS training, I was properly horrified by the alleged actions of both the bar examiner and Mr Braun. A bit of fact checking revealed his contact information–and also the following narrative of the incident that shows it is another urban legend. Thought you might want to know.”
“1. The Famous Heart Attack Story, Debunked
http://sites.google.com/site/cabarexamprimer/
This is the original legend:
”At the July 1993 administration of the California bar exam at the Pasadena Convention Center, a 50 year old man had a heart attack, and two of the test takers, John Leslie and Eunice Morgan, stopped their exams to help the man. They administered CPR for forty minutes until paramedics arrived, and then resumed their exams. The proctors did not give the applicants additional time to complete their exams (in fact, the proctors are not empowered to do so).”
Jerome Braun, a state bar executive, supported the decision, and said, “If these two want to be lawyers, they should learn a lesson about priorities.”
John is listed as a member of the bar, meaning he passed the exam. Eunice is not listed as a member, but I have heard that she did in fact pass. Just think: They passed, despite sacrificing 30 minutes to save a man’s life!
In November, 2001, a Primer reader contacted Jerome Braun to verify this story. Mr. Braun clarified that the incident occurred in 1992, and the individual suffered an epileptic seizure rather than a heart attack. Five persons taking the examination came to the individual’s aid, and their taking of the examination was clearly disrupted. Unfortunately, those seated around the person who suffered the seizure were also disrupted, but at the time the extent of the disruption could not be ascertained. To give some who were disrupted additional time and to not give it to others who were disrupted would have been unfair.
In situations where there is a significant disruption, the Committee of Bar Examiners of The State Bar of California engages a psychometric consultant to determine after grading has been completed the extent of the disruption and then makes appropriate adjustments to the scores of the individuals who suffered the disruption. Following that policy, no additional time was given the five persons who came to the aid of the individual who suffered the seizure and post-grading adjustments were made to the scores. None of the adjustments changed the pass or fail status of any of the five.
The remark attributed to Mr. Braun was not made by him, nor to his knowledge by any person affiliated with The State Bar of California.”
I am not sure that the true story is much better than the Urban Legend. Something disturbs me about the Bar’s use of a “psychometric consultant” to determine if adjustments are needed to the test scores because of a “disruption” and then making the ‘appropriate” adjustments. I still get the same gut reaction as with the original story and find it just as disturbing.
But, I print the above, to “clarify the record’.
…. Just something to think about!….
Happy 2010!
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