Black fire-fighters can't pass the fire-fighters promotion exam. The test is racist? Sure, I'll admit that. Just as soon as you can explain to me how the black kids and white kids went to the same schools . . the black guys and white guys work in the same firehouse. . . they both got the same study materials . . Now how does one write a test that the white guy can pass but the black guy can't?
No, the test is not racist. It was not designed to keep black people from getting promoted. It was designed to determine which firefighters had enough reading, writing, and arithmetic skills to become managers.
So, why can't the black firefighters pass the test? Look back at the high school scores on the standardized tests. Blacks range ten to twenty percent behind the white kids. That should be a major clue as to why the black firefighters do so poorly.
Those tests is racist you say? The kids are in the same schools with the same teachers getting the same lessons. Take a close look at the Asian kids - they tend to run two to five percent ahead of the white kids. Try explaining just what it is that makes the test racist, and maybe we can fix it. But the test still has to test the ability to read, write, and do arithmetic and, hopefully, maybe some cognitive ability.
And it is not just the high school kids. Look at junior high, middle school, elementary school. Same story. The black kids are ten to twenty percentage points behind the white kids. And the Asian kids are slightly ahead of the white kids.
It looks to me like Asian Mama's are serious about educating their kids. I've known some Philipino grand fathers who were tutoring their grand kids. I know one Philipino Daddy who pushed three adopted kids and his born son to get higher educations. And I have a Philipino would-be-daughter-in-law who I 'caught' trying to teach her three and four year olds the alphabet and their numbers. Those two little boys . . . Well, they had an interesting habit of pulling a childrens book off my book shelf and asking me to read to them. Just imagine, if you can, an old white dude kicked back in a lazy boy recliner with one little brown boy on each arm paying close attention as I read 'The Cat in the Hat' by Dr. Suess to them.
White Mama's and grandmamma's? They read to their little ones.
Black Mama's? It appears that a lot of them cop the attitude that the school is supposed to teach them everything they need to know.
So, all the kids show up for first grade. Two thirds of the Asian kids are already reading. One third of the white kids are already reading. And most of the black kids haven't a clue what a book actually is.
And then in high school the black kids start copping the attitude that 'getting educated is acting white' . . . And exerting peer pressure to keep their fellow black students from getting educated.
Small wonder the black fire-fighters can't pass the promotion exam.
(Feel free to share this.)
(And it is wrong, feel free to try explaining to me why it is.)
Zim.
Mad Poet Strikes Again.
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