Spring Break
Don't let race trump test scores in promotions
George Maynard
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: Commentary
Imagine this: a city in our enlightened state gives an exam to its fire department to determine who is qualified for the top jobs in the department. This exam is designed by an independent consulting company with no political ties to the department or the city. Finally, before being administered to candidates, the exam is approved by the two highest ranking officers in the fire department, one of whom is white, and one of whom is black. The results of the test come back and the top scores are all earned by black firemen. This means the department's commanding positions will all be held by blacks. City officials learn about the test results and declare the results invalid to avoid offending people's racial sensitivities.
There would be a thundering outrage, right? Al Sharpton, Oprah and thousands of civil rights supporters would descend on the city to unleash their righteous fury, and they would be absolutely right to do so. Racial discrimination has no place anywhere in these United States. Fortunately, this is a purely hypothetical example.
Now, reverse the races from the first example. That is to say, all of the top scorers on the exam are white or Latino, and no blacks will be promoted to administrative positions in the department. The situation is no longer hypothetical. White and Latino firefighters who scored well on an exam in New Haven were told that they wouldn't be promoted since none of their black counterparts could be promoted with them.
This is absurd for a number of reasons. Here's the most obvious though; if a city is going to pay for firefighters, the residents of that city deserve the very best fire department they can have. If that means hiring a chief who's a Scientologist whose family is from the deepest Amazonian jungle, the city better do it. If the government is going to be in charge of public safety, they should at least hire qualified people to do it.
Hypothetically, if you've just been mugged and a police officer is nearby, would you rather the cop be fat or in shape to run after the mugger? The choice is clear. It doesn't matter if the fit cop is black, white, yellow, red, green or some mixture of the colors. What does matter is that the cop is able to effectively carry out the duties that he is tasked with; namely, apprehending the mugger and getting your stuff back.
There would be a thundering outrage, right? Al Sharpton, Oprah and thousands of civil rights supporters would descend on the city to unleash their righteous fury, and they would be absolutely right to do so. Racial discrimination has no place anywhere in these United States. Fortunately, this is a purely hypothetical example.
Now, reverse the races from the first example. That is to say, all of the top scorers on the exam are white or Latino, and no blacks will be promoted to administrative positions in the department. The situation is no longer hypothetical. White and Latino firefighters who scored well on an exam in New Haven were told that they wouldn't be promoted since none of their black counterparts could be promoted with them.
This is absurd for a number of reasons. Here's the most obvious though; if a city is going to pay for firefighters, the residents of that city deserve the very best fire department they can have. If that means hiring a chief who's a Scientologist whose family is from the deepest Amazonian jungle, the city better do it. If the government is going to be in charge of public safety, they should at least hire qualified people to do it.
Hypothetically, if you've just been mugged and a police officer is nearby, would you rather the cop be fat or in shape to run after the mugger? The choice is clear. It doesn't matter if the fit cop is black, white, yellow, red, green or some mixture of the colors. What does matter is that the cop is able to effectively carry out the duties that he is tasked with; namely, apprehending the mugger and getting your stuff back.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Allison
posted 4/28/09 @ 6:41 AM EST
Perhaps you should check more into the provisions of Title VII legislation. 78 Stat. 241 (1964) In ยง703(h) of the Civil Rights Act there is a provision that exams whose results are clearly discriminatory are not to be used for promotions purposes. (Continued…)
Conservative
posted 4/28/09 @ 8:11 AM EST
the test was designed to test the overall abilities of the firefighters. some of the black firefighters did qualify for advancement, but didn't score quite as high as the whites or the latino. (Continued…)
XJ
posted 6/30/09 @ 11:27 AM EST
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/us/30scotus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
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