2013, President Barack Obama’s FAA Administrator, Michael Herta, “made an historic commitment to transform the Federal Aviation Administration into a more diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects, understands, and relates to the diverse customers we serve,” after commissioning a paper that said relying on qualifications and test sco…
2013, President Barack Obama’s FAA Administrator, Michael Herta, “made an historic commitment to transform the Federal Aviation Administration into a more diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects, understands, and relates to the diverse customers we serve,” after commissioning a paper that said relying on qualifications and test scores created “barriers…for racial/ethnic minorities.”
Seventy-three percent of white applicants passed the qualifications stage, compared to 47% of black applicants and 60% of Hispanic applicants. If the cutoff score for the test was 85, 78% of Asian applicants and 77% of white applicants passed, while only 38% of black applicants and 41% of Hispanic applicants did. But if the cutoff was lowered to 70, racial equity was in sight, with all Asian applicants passing, 99% of white applicants passing, and 90% of black applicants passing, the Obama consultant said.
In the end, the Obama administration opted to add a “Biographical Questionnaire” (BQ) to the application, which was used to give minorities extra points by asking questions about how many sports they played, or asking them to explain the cause of their failures, seemingly “to elicit stories of personal disadvantage.”
Pearson said the questionnaire actually punished people for being competent. It gave them 10 points for saying they’d been unemployed for the last three years, but just two points for saying they were trained pilots. Applicants were also rewarded if they said science was their worst subject in high school.
2013, President Barack Obama’s FAA Administrator, Michael Herta, “made an historic commitment to transform the Federal Aviation Administration into a more diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects, understands, and relates to the diverse customers we serve,” after commissioning a paper that said relying on qualifications and test scores created “barriers…for racial/ethnic minorities.”
Seventy-three percent of white applicants passed the qualifications stage, compared to 47% of black applicants and 60% of Hispanic applicants. If the cutoff score for the test was 85, 78% of Asian applicants and 77% of white applicants passed, while only 38% of black applicants and 41% of Hispanic applicants did. But if the cutoff was lowered to 70, racial equity was in sight, with all Asian applicants passing, 99% of white applicants passing, and 90% of black applicants passing, the Obama consultant said.
In the end, the Obama administration opted to add a “Biographical Questionnaire” (BQ) to the application, which was used to give minorities extra points by asking questions about how many sports they played, or asking them to explain the cause of their failures, seemingly “to elicit stories of personal disadvantage.”
Pearson said the questionnaire actually punished people for being competent. It gave them 10 points for saying they’d been unemployed for the last three years, but just two points for saying they were trained pilots. Applicants were also rewarded if they said science was their worst subject in high school.
Excellent and scary information that everyone needs to know.