A bit of near-ancient history from the U.S.
In the early 70's, the Federal Government gave a written test to people who wanted "professional and administrative" jobs. I gather that the test was to account for the different value of grades from various institutions. You couldn't count a degree from a community college the same as a degree from a "better" school, eh?
So they created the Professional and Administrative Career Exam (commonly called the "PACE" test) to evaluate applicants for government jobs, usually college grads - though this could be waived with significant work experience. Based on how you did on the test, you were given a percentile grade that was used to put you on the waiting list - so to speak - for positions that came open. At the time I took the exam I did not yet have a bachelor's degree but I was a veteran. With my 5 point veterans preference, my score was 103%. Disabled vets went to the top of the list regardless, so I was in the second-highest category for being hired, and I was hired by DoD within a few months after taking the PACE test.
Enter Jimmy Carter, the great humanitarian.
Those of you who are still reading this thread know that there was a "problem" with the PACE test. It basically excluded people of Black African descent. Their average scores were miserable, and they never got to the top of the list. This was a problem, for sure (and I agree that it was a problem).
Because of the "problem," the Office of Personnel Management "cancelled" the PACE test and, on Jimmy Carter's instructions, promised to create a new test that avoided all "cultural bias" and guaranteed that "white" people and Black people would pass in proportionate numbers with those taking the test.
Those of us taking notice of this development collectively responded, "Say what???" There is no such test. There can be no such test. One can only imagine the questions that could populate such a test. They would have to include questions of Black esoterica unknown to "white" people in order to achieve its goal. The imagination reels.
Within a few years, the OPM gave up on its impossible assignment to create the "perfect" test, and instituted a systematic evaluation protocol that included what schools you went to, what your grades were, and whatever else they HAD TO consider in order not to exclude "minorities." And I believe that is what remains to this day.
For reasons that are indelicate to discuss, any large-scale quantitative assessment of intelligence or learning will demonstrate that, on average, Blacks fall below the standard of other races and ethnic groups. There will be outstanding Blacks who meet the high standards (more so in coming years as interracial couplings become more common), but on average Blacks will be near the bottom.
So yes, Black students should be graded "differently." But this will be yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences in the future. Any employer who sees an "Honors" degree from a Washington school will give that honor no weight in evaluating the candidate, assuming that it is bogus. Because it probably is.
In the early 70's, the Federal Government gave a written test to people who wanted "professional and administrative" jobs. I gather that the test was to account for the different value of grades from various institutions. You couldn't count a degree from a community college the same as a degree from a "better" school, eh?
So they created the Professional and Administrative Career Exam (commonly called the "PACE" test) to evaluate applicants for government jobs, usually college grads - though this could be waived with significant work experience. Based on how you did on the test, you were given a percentile grade that was used to put you on the waiting list - so to speak - for positions that came open. At the time I took the exam I did not yet have a bachelor's degree but I was a veteran. With my 5 point veterans preference, my score was 103%. Disabled vets went to the top of the list regardless, so I was in the second-highest category for being hired, and I was hired by DoD within a few months after taking the PACE test.
Enter Jimmy Carter, the great humanitarian.
Those of you who are still reading this thread know that there was a "problem" with the PACE test. It basically excluded people of Black African descent. Their average scores were miserable, and they never got to the top of the list. This was a problem, for sure (and I agree that it was a problem).
Because of the "problem," the Office of Personnel Management "cancelled" the PACE test and, on Jimmy Carter's instructions, promised to create a new test that avoided all "cultural bias" and guaranteed that "white" people and Black people would pass in proportionate numbers with those taking the test.
Those of us taking notice of this development collectively responded, "Say what???" There is no such test. There can be no such test. One can only imagine the questions that could populate such a test. They would have to include questions of Black esoterica unknown to "white" people in order to achieve its goal. The imagination reels.
Within a few years, the OPM gave up on its impossible assignment to create the "perfect" test, and instituted a systematic evaluation protocol that included what schools you went to, what your grades were, and whatever else they HAD TO consider in order not to exclude "minorities." And I believe that is what remains to this day.
For reasons that are indelicate to discuss, any large-scale quantitative assessment of intelligence or learning will demonstrate that, on average, Blacks fall below the standard of other races and ethnic groups. There will be outstanding Blacks who meet the high standards (more so in coming years as interracial couplings become more common), but on average Blacks will be near the bottom.
So yes, Black students should be graded "differently." But this will be yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences in the future. Any employer who sees an "Honors" degree from a Washington school will give that honor no weight in evaluating the candidate, assuming that it is bogus. Because it probably is.
