On 01/29/10 15:10, andrel wrote:
>>   Even if that's so (ie. black people in the US having in average a
>> poorer
>> education), I don't see how it's discriminating against blacks per se.
>> If anything, it would be "discrimination" against uneducated people (if
>> such a thing is feasible). Any person, regardless of skin tone, would
>> score
>> poorly in such a test. How is this discrimination against black people?
> 
> The main question is always: are we testing the right things. In general
> employers are asking more cultural background than is needed for the
> job. Simply because they want the best person, not the one just right

	Bingo. Or possible bingo.

	I knew when I posted the link people were going to jump to rampant
speculation, and come to conclusions (or close enough) that mirror their
views of the world.

	I don't know what was on the test, and no one here seems to. So why are
people coming up with all these conclusions?

	Yes, some tests, on occasion _have_ been found to be "discriminatory".
This happens on occasion with things like the SAT exam (a common exam to
get admission into university in the US). It consists of a "verbal" and
a "quantitative" section. The verbal section involves reading
comprehension, and it's easy to believe that questions can be asked that
are biased towards/against a portion of the country (sometimes the bias
corresponds to race, but sometimes other factors).

	Likewise the quantitative guys try to be careful. Think probability:
Will everyone know that a deck of cards has 52 of them?

	I'm willing to accept that the test was discriminatory - I just want to
know how. My complaint isn't about the ruling, but the journalism
(something everyone who responded seemed to miss).

	At the same time, I will confess that I don't think it's beyond some
court to say it was discriminatory just based on the test results
(unfortunately because of the way some laws have been passed). But I'll
give the benefit of the doubt.


-- 
One flea to another: "Is there life on other dogs?"

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