Free Republic

The most consequential falsehood in American public policy today is the idea that any racial disparity in any institution is by definition the result of racial discrimination. If a cancer research lab, for example, does not have 13 percent black oncologists—the black share of the national population—it is by definition a racist lab that discriminates against competitively qualified black oncologists; if an airline company doesn’t have 13 percent black pilots, it is by definition a racist airline company that discriminates against competitively qualified black pilots; and if a prison population contains more than 13 percent black prisoners, our law enforcement...

The continued embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM combined with a broad decline in academic standards is producing a generation of scientists who are less capable than their predecessors, warned some scientists in recent interviews with The College Fix. From easier math classes in high school to the elimination of standardized tests to extreme grade-inflation to DEI tropes that elevate lived experiences and ways of knowing over facts and data, the trend represents a pressing problem for science professors working to protect STEM and preserve its standards and meritocracy. Alex Small, chair of the physics and astronomy department...

The US Navy is lowering requirements to ridiculous levels, now accepting literal retards who flunked out of high school. The rush to get white males (as well as anyone else they can find) into the military as quickly as possible has led many to suggest we are headed for some kind of major and serious war. However, if they want to fight a serious war with China and/or Russia, they would need a draft. And it would be a much more serious draft than Vietnam. It would be a World War II style draft.

The US Navy had to deliver some bad news last October. Like the other armed service branches, they missed their recruiting goals again. And they missed all of them. By a lot. The enlisted ranks goal for fiscal year 2023 had been 37,700, but they came up more than 7,000 short of that. They missed the enlisted reserve goal by more than 2,000 and fell short by hundreds in the goal for new officers. This forced them to raise the goals for 2024 even higher. But how do they plan on accomplishing that feat?Sadly, they have resorted to the same...

Last week, Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative group, filed a lawsuit against the US Military Academy at West Point, contending that the academy’s use of race in admissions is unconstitutional. This comes on the heels of the group’s victory in June in a landmark Supreme Court case against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over affirmative action. The lawsuit asks the court to take up an issue that was mentioned in passing in the earlier case. A footnote in Chief Justice John Robert’s majority opinion notes that the military academies were not party to...

… Fetterman's appalling sense of dress, and Schumer's capitulation to it, can be seen as part of the Left's broader, sustained attacks on the norms of many venerable institutions. (We are, after all, reliably informed by many wokesters that the very structure of the Senate—two members per state, regardless of population—is a throwback to "white supremacy.") But the koshering of Fetterman's sartorial slovenliness bespeaks a trend both greater and more pernicious than the wokes' now-trite attacks on American traditions: the failure to recognize, and uphold, objective social standards. … Across all of American and Western society, the "participation trophy" mentality...

If diversity makes us stronger, why does it require lower standards? Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr, Biden’s nominee to replace Milley as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had signed off on a memo to impose a 43% quota for white male officers in the Air Force. That would be catastrophic at a time when the Air Force is struggling with recruitment, faces a shortage of over 1,000 pilots and 86% of its pilots are white men. Brown, who claimed that America is racist and that he faced racism when someone questioned whether he was...

College professors are "inflating grades and watering down their courses," write Mark Horowitz, Anthony L. Haynor and Kenneth Kickham in Inside Higher Ed. The “broke-woke-stroke” convergence has pressured faculty to lower standards, they write. The three professors conducted a national survey of tenured professors in English, math and sociology at public universities of average quality. ... “Broke” colleges and universities "scramble to attract and retain students, whatever their intellectual readiness," they write. Faculty are under pressure to please the customers. If too many switch to an easier major, the professor could lose his or her job. “Woke” sensibilities have politicized...

The board of the Massachusetts Teacher Association has voted unanimously to back a ballot question eliminating the state’s MCAS exam graduation requirement, kicking off the next step in the prominent campaign. The union has long been an outspoken opponent of the test. In their statement, the president and vice president argued the exam “has not only failed to close learning gaps that have persisted along racial and economic lines, but the standardized tests have exacerbated the disparities among our student populations.” However, the union emphasized, the ballot question would not end the test, just the graduation requirement. Opponents of the...

Major Jones may very well be exempt from all physical fitness and height-weight standards. ... Physical Fitness Testing Physical fitness is a fundamental requirement of your service. You are required to meet the physical fitness testing standards based upon your gender marker in your Service’s personnel data system and in accordance with Service regulations. If temporarily unable to meet the standards, it may be necessary to request an ETP or medical waiver. While the 6-month exemption from physical fitness standards is not unusual for servicemembers undergoing rehab after an injury, applying it to someone for failing to make height-weight standards...

Diversity is our strength. Except, apparently, the more diversity the military seeks, the less strength it requires.That seems to be the lesson of the Army’s physical fitness standards, which do not apply to people who are getting “gender-affirming” care.The Army obesity crisis is worse among the “diversity” hires — women, blacks, Hispanics, and transvestites.Shocker!https://t.co/ZdRNGjckZ4— Revolver News (@RevolverNewsUSA) July 5, 2023One of the shibboleths of the Left is the claim that increasing the acceptance of “gender-diverse” individuals into the military merely extends the same opportunities to transgender folks as those afforded to people who identify with their natal sex (man, finding...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Ford Motor Company President and CEO Jim Farley argued that building up the electric vehicle charging infrastructure so people can go wherever they can with a gas-powered car will require retailers to put fast chargers in front of stores, which will require a change in building standards. Co-host Becky Quick asked, “[J]ust the idea of building up the infrastructure and making sure that you can go anywhere that you would with a gasoline-powered vehicle, how long do you think it takes before those problems are really resolved and you don’t run into snags...

States are realizing there is a much-needed alternative to today’s watered-down, useless standardized tests: the Classic Learning Test.The days of needing flashcards to study SAT vocabulary words to get into college are over — but not just because more and more schools have decided to jettison standardized testing entirely. Today’s SAT is a shadow of its former self, having been dumbed down and manipulated over the past several decades to serve political ends. In its current form, the test has outlived its usefulness.In fact, Florida lawmakers have affirmed as much in a recent education bill that passed the Florida House...

I guess this is one way to deal with public schools utterly failing to educate: just lower the standards for what counts as proficient.New York state has decided to permanently lower the math and reading proficiency standards due to the dramatic fall in test scores since the COVID lockdowns destroyed children’s educations. A committee has reported that student performance has been permanently damaged and that lower competence has become “the new normal.”New York will make it easier for students to reach “proficiency” on state math and English language arts tests, calling last year’s lower scores the “new normal.”A scoring committee...

The Delaware Supreme Court lowered the passing score on the state's bar exam amid other changes reportedly intended to increase racial diversity among the state's lawyers. The 200-question multiple-choice exam will be offered twice instead of once a year beginning in 2024 – and its passing score will be lowered from 145 to 143, according to local outlet WHYY. The number of essays on the exam will be decreased from eight to four, and the number of essay topics will be reduced from 14 to 10. The clerkship requirement is also being lowered from 21 weeks to 12 weeks, and...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called to remove "obstacles" for new police recruits and pledged to root out officers with ties to "right-wing domestic extremist organizations." Bass is looking to remove "obstacles" for police recruits who fail to initially qualify for training as a means of further diversifying the LAPD, according to a summary of her public safety goals obtained by Fox News Digital – but police union leaders are questioning the move. Bass' summary of goals for police reform includes a list of provisions as well as dates by which the department must report back regarding progress. One provision...

Medical schools are in the process of abandoning all pretense of merit as the criteria for admissions.Via Association of American Medical Colleges:This year’s first-year class of medical students is more diverse than ever before. In fact, the number of Black or African American students who matriculated into medical school for the 2021-2022 academic year increased by 21%, according to data from the AAMC. But those numbers belie a disturbing history of bias and racial inequity in medical school admissions dating back more than a century — one that continues today and that can be overcome only with intentionality and less...

At least two out of of five Memphis police officers charged with murder in the fatal beatdown of Tyre Nichols joined the force after the department relaxed its hiring requirements. Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley both joined the Memphis Police Department in Aug. 2020, NBC News reported, more than two years after the department dramatically loosened the education qualifications to become an officer. Recruits no longer needed an associate’s degree or 54 college credit hours to join the force, and could get by with five years of work experience, Action 5 reported. Loosening the required qualifications however means that the...

Kansas universities may soon dispense with their algebra graduation requirement because too many students fail the courses.NPR Kansas recently reported: “About one in three Kansas students fails college algebra the first time around. Some take it several times before they pass. Others get so frustrated that they drop out altogether. And that cuts into university graduation rates.” NPR added that this prompted the Kansas Board of Regents to consider alternative requirements under what’s called “Math Pathways program.”Regent Wint Winter (yes, that's his name) said the new Pathways program is critical as a way to fight declining enrollment.He stated: “It’s incumbent...

At the fourth Assembly of the German Synodal Way, a large majority of the bishops and laity present voted to approve a text that demands the Church change her teaching on homosexuality.