In the wake of federal court judge Nicholas Garaufus declaring both the 1999 and 2007 Fire Department entrance exams discriminatory against blacks, Captain Paul Washington (pictured left, in dress blue uniform), the former President of the FDNY's Vulcan Society (the FDNY’s black fraternity) had THIS to say; “We celebrate today’s decision recognizing that unfair firefighter exams and other employment schemes THAT ONLY SERVE TO BLOCK UNQUALIFIED CANDIDATES have no place in public service.” SEE: http://ccrjustice.org/files/09.07.23_RJGM_VulcanVictory_Newsday.pdf)
The “unfair firefighter exams” Captain Washington was referring to were set to a documented 8th Grade reading level. The FDNY requires 60 College credits to apply, which would appear to require a minimum of a 12th grade reading level...so, YES, just as Paul Washington stated, judge Garaufus’ decision seemed to oppose any standards that “block UNQUALIFIED candidates” from passing. WHY do some blacks keep on insisting on linking blackness to incompetence? Seriously, I really don't get that. Isn't that....hmmm....exactly what they tend to call conservative blacks - SELF-HATING. Really, what could be more self-hating than championing the "unqualified" as championing your own racial/ethnic group???
This will certainly be an interesting standard when applied to the MCAT (for medical schools) and LSAT (for law schools) exams and the various and sundry certification exams from the Medical and Law Boards to the CPA qualifying exams. I even have their slogan already made up, "Unqualified workers of the world, UNITE!"
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The City of New York is considering appealing the decision
8 comments:
it's the same thing with that whole affirmative action crap as well.
you did hit on something with the MCATS, because with the nationalization of healthcare will come the lowering of standards to allow the "unqualified" in there as well. that is extremely scary to me. affirmative action at it's best.
Well, that is, in essence, the war on standards the Left has waged for eons Joie.
The really unfortunate thing, in my view, is their being able to successfully link this to the purported cause of "helping out black Americans."
The Left gets to throw blacks under the bus, while neatly securing the tag of "presumed incompetence" on them, with the support of many in that community.
I don't know, if I failed a test and someone suggested I sue because the test "discriminated against me because whites couldn't pass that test as well as others," I'd punch that dope in the face.
Apparently some people don't know when they're being used and taken for fools.
The people I really feel for are the millions of blacks who work hard, get ahead on their own merits and have to deal with some, in their own communities, looking to link blackness with incompetence and not being able to pass written exams.
Seriously...a test, written to the educational comprehension level of an 8th grader, is meant to keep unqualified people from advancing?
And this is a problem?
I see the problem as the continued attack on standards of performance and excellence, and the effort to dilute those standards to the point that there aren't any.
That's the roblem with virtually ALL Civil Service exams today SF...they aren't really tests.
One guy's 11 y/o brother took and PASSED the exam he took!
Emergency service jobs in particular require a high level of motivation, advanced (College level reading aptitude). Even a basic firefigghting job requires constant hands-on drilling AND continuous reading over tactics and procedures, evolutions, building construction training guides, communication manuals, Certified First Responder with Defibrilation and Hazardous Materials training guides.
To pass a basic promotion exam in the Fire Dept in NY, appx 1000 hours of concentrated study is required.
For police, as well as other investigators and other emergency personnel the burden is the same.
Moreover, ALL those jobs require sound judgment, because civilian lives are on the line, whether it's a decision on the fire-ground, or a police officer deciding on whether to shoot or not, those positions require sound, calculated judgment.
Judgment is an intellectual trait and generally, the higher one's cognitive aptitude, the better or more sound is one's judgment.
But worst of all there's no such thing as "an unfair test," so long as the EVERYONE is held to the SAME set of standards.
Claiming that high standards "discriminate" against a particular ethnic group is claiming that group is inferior...and that's as absurd as it is demeaning to that group.
Agreed. I wonder when a group that is being "discriminated against" in these tests, is going to rise up against that judgement, and demand that the Left stop saying (openly and covertly) that they are "inferior"?
Long as they let the Left speak for them thus, they remain a self-fulfilling prophecy of inadequacy that only dilution of standards can help. And really don't.
That's the problem SF, Liberal whites have successfully made a political accomodation with Leftist blacks...promising political and material gain (jobs) for their capitulating to the liberal orthodoxy.
There are MANY blacks who oppose such policies (they're called "black conservatives"), but they are excoriated maligned and ostracized by the black political establishment and held up to other blacks as "sell-outs" who don't defend "black interests."
We need to remember that during the Democratic Primaries, the black political establishment (the Jacksons and Sharptons, etc.) did NOT warm up to Obama until it was clear that Hillary couldn't win.
WHY?
Because they knew they had an accomodation with Hillary Clinton and no such accord with Barack Obama.
YES, Barack Obama believes in the liberal meme about "blacks being disadvantaged by both bigotry and environment, but he does not owe the black political establishment ANYthing.
He owes the Chicago political establishment plenty and he owes the liberal-wing of that Party as well.
I can't speak for black conservatives and I don't need to defend them, but it takes a LOT of courage to oppose things that, on the surface, at least, seem to be in your favor. That's even harder given the long-standing tensions between blacks and whites here...added to the fact that all too often, when conservative blacks DO oppose such policies, few conservative whites join in with any degree of passion.
I think most people today accept that they have more in common with someone else who is ideologically alligned with them no matter how different they may be culturally, religiously or otherwise.
Conservatives need to practice what we want for our country - an end to hyfenization....there shouldn't be a "black conservatism" apart from "white conservatism," because really, there is only one conservatism that we all advocate for.
Your concluding statement in your last response pretty much says it all, JMK.
Whoops!
Except I misspelled hyphenization, SF.
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