Federal Judge Rules FDNY Exams Discriminated Against Minorities

[EagleKeeper]

this weekend, I sent an email to one of the Council members (Chairperson overseeing the Fire Department) asking how to obtain a copy of the disputed recruitment exam.

It will be interesting if/how they respond

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
this weekend, I sent an email to one of the Council members (Chairperson overseeing the Fire Department) asking how to obtain a copy of the disputed recruitment exam.

It will be interesting if/how they respond

I would liek to see it as well buit it was probable made and given by a contractor. As such they would own it and have full legal ownership of it. So you may just get a "we don;t own it... and its protected copyright..." type e-mail.

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
this weekend, I sent an email to one of the Council members (Chairperson overseeing the Fire Department) asking how to obtain a copy of the disputed recruitment exam.

It will be interesting if/how they respond

I imagine you aren't the first to request it. If they did grant it, it'd be out by now.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I think it's kind of valid for a test to possibly be racist. If your reading word problems and you can closely relate to what's being talked about it's easier to break the problem down into its mathematical components. In the end the problems not any easier, but timewise it'll probably take longer and probably leave more room for someone to make stupid small mistakes. Not saying this test is or not just trying to counter the "lol, tests can't be biased crowd"

It's like if you're chinese and there's a question that involves a tea cup and saucer. It's not central to the problem that you understand what a teacup and saucer are, but you've never seen one before and you're wondering what it is while your doing the long division and percentages that actually encompass the problem. Not something that would directly impact a test, but it'd have indirect implications. It's an added distraction that a british person won't have. It's like if anyone on ATOT went in to take the SATs and they had 50 cent music playing through the whole thing.

 

[Jadow]

I saw the test, the questions where really white-centric:

The kitchen at the country club is on fire, a short caused by a television that was tuned to Seinfeld caused the fire.

Should you spray some water on it to put it out or use foam?

-- They're going to re-do the question:

The kitchen at the crackhouse is on fire, a short caused by a television that was tuned to Chris Rock caused the fire.

Should you spray some water on it to put it out or use foam?

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Jadow
I saw the test, the questions where really white-centric:

The kitchen at the country club is on fire, a short caused by a television that was tuned to Seinfeld caused the fire.

Should you spray some water on it to put it out or use foam?

-- They're going to re-do the question:

The kitchen at the crackhouse is on fire, a short caused by a television that was tuned to Chris Rock caused the fire.

Should you spray some water on it to put it out or use foam?

It takes two seconds to learn the answer to this. Every white person who naturally, because they have things they want to protect, buys and has on hand a fire extinguisher, where, when you read the instructions to this, you learn the answer, but most poor black people, who are totally qualified to fight fires and can easily learn, have never had a fire extinguisher in their hands in their life.

 

[her209]

What the hell is a "regatta"?

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: nkgreen

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
this weekend, I sent an email to one of the Council members (Chairperson overseeing the Fire Department) asking how to obtain a copy of the disputed recruitment exam.

It will be interesting if/how they respond

I imagine you aren't the first to request it. If they did grant it, it'd be out by now.

I don't have time to do it right now, but I'd guess that the original Complaint filed in court has references to specific test questions. That should be available to the public.

 

[justly]

Originally posted by: Jadow
I saw the test, the questions where really white-centric:

The kitchen at the country club is on fire, a short caused by a television that was tuned to Seinfeld caused the fire.

Should you spray some water on it to put it out or use foam?

-- They're going to re-do the question:

The kitchen at the crackhouse is on fire, a short caused by a television that was tuned to Chris Rock caused the fire.

Should you spray some water on it to put it out or use foam?

Fire fighting tests should always avoid questionable words like kitchen

 

[RPD]

I'd really like to know as well, how can a test be racist?

Are you white, black, asian, mexican or other? (Note only ONE correct answer here!)

 

[dammitgibs]

Question: A house is burning and inside there is a white a black and a mexican man, which one do you save first?
Answer: The white man (who is probably also rich)

Maybe that was a question on the test? Who knows, honestly I think you'd have to try pretty hard to make a test that would give one cultural group an advantage, I at least can't think of how it could be done.

 

[dammitgibs]

From http://www.firefighternation.c...dny-tests-discriminate
"The judge said black and Hispanic applicants had disproportionately failed the written examinations and those who passed were placed disproportionately lower down the hiring lists than whites. He said he must now consider remedies."

Ahh that's starting to make sense, guess we better dumb down the tests to the lowest common denominator, this is really a failing of our education system and as a country not deciding to go with one standard language. Hell I know in Iceland you have to be able to read write and speak English to graduate high school, but not in America. Tons of countries all over the world have said that English is their official language, but we're afraid we'll offend a group if we say that English is the official language.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Scores on written tests have little if anything to do with firefighting.

I'd rather have a low-scoring written test 'minority' in decent shape than a dough-ass white guy who scores in the 95th percentile.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Scores on written tests have little if anything to do with firefighting.

I'd rather have a low-scoring written test 'minority' in decent shape than a dough-ass white guy who scores in the 95th percentile.

I'm just guessing here, but I would hope that firefighters know stuff like which fire extinguisher type (A, B, C, or D) can be used on what kinds of fires, or how to recognize a hazmat symbol. There's more to firefighting than just aiming a hose and climbing ladders.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: nkgreen

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
this weekend, I sent an email to one of the Council members (Chairperson overseeing the Fire Department) asking how to obtain a copy of the disputed recruitment exam.

It will be interesting if/how they respond

I imagine you aren't the first to request it. If they did grant it, it'd be out by now.

I don't have time to do it right now, but I'd guess that the original Complaint filed in court has references to specific test questions. That should be available to the public.

Assuming that the case was tried in the Southern District of New York, here's the website. I'm too lazy to go through their registration process though.