As IF Times

link Washington sues Florida city over firefighter tests | Reuters.

Broad principles are at stake here.  To qualify for most jobs these days, it’s pretty well expected that there should be some barrier to entry, at least to filter out the most obviously unqualified people from a given position.  If that were not the case, I might decide to go into the brain surgery business because I happen to be good with my hands.  The guys who went to medical school for 10 years may not be so happy about that, but there’s a lot to be said for on the job experience.

Of course, we can’t equate firefighting with brain surgery.  Firefighting is basically a binary job task: if there’s a fire, put it out, if not, play cards or clean the trucks.  However, they still have to at least be able to read street signs and a maybe a road map.  Assuming that someone can pass the physical requirements, there really shouldn’t be too much in the way of obstacles to qualify as a firefighter.  It’s doubtful that a homeowner whose house was ablaze would care a scintilla about someone’s GPA when the firetruck pulls up.  But they do expect some level of competence.  If, as a group, certain people are unable to pass these requirements is it really logical to make the exams easier to pass?  By extrapolation, why have thresholds of competence for anyone?

It’s unclear how these written tests in Florida were administered, but logically, if they were written simultaneously and blacks as a group all failed to qualify, that’s one thing.  If the testers knew the candidates were black before giving out the tests, that’s another.  Presumably, as in school, the tests are scored on the results, not on the pictures.

One of the basic tenets of civilization is that in order to ‘get ahead’ in life, it’s necessary to get a good education in order to qualify for a good job.  As a matter of fact, millions of students submerge themselves in debt in order to realize that dream of a ‘better life’.  If the standards for any given job were waived just because most people couldn’t pass the entry requirements, there is little point in going to school.  People may as well demand to be hired for a position of their liking and get the media on board to support their cause.   While this may significantly reduce the hordes of people naively attending school, it does make the process of selecting a brain surgeon for example, iffier.

Although tenuous these days, there is still a correlation between between effort and results.  Most people have some kind of goal that they aspire to and they realize that in order to achieve those goals requires some kind of sacrifice entailing either mental or physical preparation.  Some will make the sacrifice, most won’t.  It is entirely illogical to expect that in any given employment role that the demographics of that role should mirror the constituency of the population at large.  In a recent ‘news’ story, the Obama administration was embarrassed by the revelation that there were very few minority staffers and advisers in his team.  I’m not sure if that’s true, but it does create a problem of optics for an administration that plays the race card so often, it’s the only card in the deck.

Again, firefighting is not brain surgery.  It’s hard to imagine that any able bodied person wouldn’t qualify to drag a hose around or follow orders.  But if the most nominal of suitability exams can’t be passed by a candidate, perhaps they should be looking elsewhere for a career, something that doesn’t require simple ability to process reason and logic and for which there are no competency tests.   Politics for example.