I don’t know if Philip Greenspun is merely playing dumb — which would be advisable — while discussing the New Haven firefighter’s case, when he asks, Why wouldn’t an exam culture favor discriminated-against minorities?
Suppose I am a member of Group A within society. The average manager thinks that members of Group A are incompetent and doesn’t want to hire anyone in Group A. Membership in Group A can be easily recognized in a face-to-face interview by skin color and therefore, unless nobody else has applied, no member of Group A is likely to get a job after a face-to-face interview.An employer switches to using a written exam, graded by a computer program unaware of the group membership of test takers. The highest scoring test takers will be given jobs.
This should be a dream come true for me and the rest of Group A. To get a job or a promotion, all that I have to do is study for a written test. I don’t have to worry about my skin color anymore. If Group A has a particular dialect of English or funny accent that turns off employers, I am also freed from worry about how I speak.
It is a dream come true for Group A, and it was a dream come true for Group J, many decades ago, when standardized tests were first introduced, but it’s not a dream come true for Group B.