Posted by
Steve on Saturday, October 07, 2006 1:18:01 PM
This week a group that is working to get women and minorities jobs in our college district, made a report. The report stated that they had placed proudly 70-90% women candidates in the last 5 years. The people were filling jobs that have staffing of over 60% female personnel. That includes most of the college district system. The college district is staffed 60+% female with all positions considered. If you just take faculty, where this program is targeted, the staffing is over 70%.
A man pointed out that the group was supposed to help women and minorities get jobs in the district. Since men were a decided minority, why didn't the group try to get more men to apply. Well, that caused a firestorm. The feminists came unglued. They pointed out that women had been discriminated against for centuries and we needed to make up for that discrimination. They also pointed out that the program was to benefit women. It was successfully doing that and should be commended. They objected to anyone criticizing the program to help women get jobs in the district.
This firestorm points out the fact that even when the need for a program to help women or minorities is over, the people that benefit will still insist that it continue. The reason is that they have found a way to legally discriminate against males, particularly white males. They feel powerful in this situation. They do not want to go to a situation where the playing field is level. If the playing field is level, the best person would get hired. That might mean many of the people that benefitted from these programs would be out of a job.
I have been trying to get into the college district as a full-time employee for over 5 years. It is difficult for anyone and five years is not unusual. But, I have seen some of the people hired over me and have been appalled. One of them is completely incompetent. He talks a good game. But, never seems to actually do what he says he can do. Something always happens to make it impossible for him to complete assignments. When he teaches classes, they never seem to actually do labs. When they attempt labs, they never finish them or have everyone do all parts. But he got hired over me and some others.
In my work as a lab tech in the department, I get to see how all the teachers in the department actually run their labs. That has been an eye opener. I can really identify the difference between a good teacher and a poor teacher. One side benefit is that I have become a better teacher. I have adopted practices the better teachers have used.
The system of hiring is unfair to everyone. When someone gets hired and there is an affirmative action program, the person hired is always painted with that brush. Justice Thomas of the Supreme Court did not benefit from any affirmative action program, but because they existed where he went to school, he is accused of using the programs. It means that a person hired with an affirmative action program has to be lots better than a regular person to be considered equal. Otherwise, they are considered inferior because of the affirmative action program.
Even though I want a job in the college district, I would never join a program of affirmative action. It would demean me and the college district. I should be judged on my own talents and not the color of my skin or the chromosomes I have or do not have.
People that believe in affirmative action think they are living the ideal of Dr. Martin Luther King. He wanted a color blind society, where people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Affirmative action does exactly the opposite. Affirmative action judges you by the color of your skin or your sex, not the content of your character. If you want to be judged by the content of your character, leave the affirmative action programs behind. Of course, you would also become a Republican. But, at least you would be a real person, not a part of a group.