Posted on 06/07/2015 5:17:44 AM PDT by Zakeet
A federal judge in New York has struck down a test used by New York City to vet potential teachers, finding the test of knowledge illegally discriminated against racial minorities due to their lower scores.
At first glance, the citys second Liberal Arts and Science Test (LAST-2) seems fairly innocuous. Unlike the unfair literacy tests of Jim Crow, LAST-2 was given to every teaching candidate in New York, and it was simply a test to make sure that teachers had a basic high school-level understanding of both the liberal arts and the sciences.
One sample question from the test asked prospective educators to identify the mathematical principle of a linear relationship when given four examples; another asked them to read four passages from the Constitution and identify which illustrated checks and balances. Besides factual knowledge, the test also checks basic academic skills, such as reading comprehension and the ability to read basic charts and graphs.
Nevertheless, this apparently neutral subject matter contained an insidious kernel of racism, because Hispanic and black applicants had a passage rate only 54 to 75 percent of the passage rate for whites.
[Snip]
Minorities who failed the exam (who number in the thousands) may be owed years of back pay totaling millions of dollars, and those who were relegated to substitute teaching jobs could be promoted to having their own classrooms.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
"Educationally abused." That's an excellent term that nails what has happened to these people. it is a form of abuse, and a waste of human talent.
.Anyone can be taught everything needed to operate well in the physical world, but how much of so-called education is frittered away on complete wastes of time such as "gender studies".
The test indicates comprehension of multi-step written instructions, critical thinking, basic math and some algebra, as it applies to the workplace. It's a good test and if you can pass it at the age of ten you should move on to something more useful than wasting your time in public daycare we call high school.
I am not certain that this decision will stand.
The New Haven firefighters case decided by the Supremes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricci_v._DeStefano was pretty clear that job-related tests were OK, even if there was a disparate impact.
It is hard to imagine that a test at the level of the NY one linked would not be job related. If a teacher in any academic subject is not capable of answering general knowledge questions, the kids are going to find out. Some of the smarter ones will concoct all sorts of mischief if they perceive that a teacher is less intelligent.
“A federal judge in New York has struck down a test used by New York City to vet potential teachers, finding the test of knowledge illegally discriminated against racial minorities due to their lower scores. “
Ok then,
Now even with the easier version, minorities can't pass it in sufficient quantities, so they want to throw the test out? What will they replace it with? Dr. Seuss rhyming questions? I didn't find the test all that difficult--if you could wield the English language, do some math, and possessed logic, you could pass with bells on. If people can't pass the test, perhaps they lack the requisite skills to be teachers. But perhaps their skills will be sufficient after all, with the way politicians and Wall Street hedge funders are scheming to take over public education and turn it into a cash cow. They will simply have to deliver a script prepared for them by indoctrination specialists, such as the authors of Commie Core. No thinking, on either side of the desk, required.
This is horrible, but not surprising. The same kinds of lawsuits have been happening with firefighters, with Obama’s Justice Department being the plaintiff. Of course Obama and all the other rich liberals have always sent their own children to private schools.
And DO NOT, NOT FOR A MOMENT, think it is localized to New York or just the Northeast.
...these schools are NO DIFFERENT than the ones you send your kids to (not you Zakeet, necessarily, but readers here in general)...people need to understand the product they’re getting and articles like these might just open their minds a bit.
Judge Kimba Wood trained five days to be a bunny at a London Playboy Club while studying at LSE.
She was also nominated by Bill Clinton to be his Attorney General in ‘93. It was her employment of an illegal immigrant that ultimately derailed her nomination
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2075632_2075634_2075855,00.html
The REALLY sad part is she was a Reagan nominee! :(
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/208204/
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