Conant also hoped that the talented and well-educated would use their talents and skills to serve the country. Lemann complains that too many just want to get rich. The SAT expanded educational choices for a large number of young people from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds. That's an achievement. The nation's low regard for lawyers helps his argument.
Many people believe that lawyers use their gifts simply to gum up the works.
Frivolous lawsuits, meaningless court battles, and enormous financial settlements are of little value to the rest of us, so we don't worry about whether law is attracting our brightest students. The reaction might be different if he focused on scientists, engineers, and medical researchers. We do want our best minds working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease and designing airplane safety systems. The SAT is a far from perfect predictor of who will be successful in those endeavors, but I think that most people would prefer that we choose those with SATs of 1500 over those with SATs of 1000 to fill these jobs. We might even be grateful to have a test that helps identify those with the talent.