Quote Originally Posted by luciddreamer
This reminds me of this law we have in Aus. You HAVE to have blacks, whites, hispanics etc. in your work place. To me this is just promoting racism. I find it hard to explain for some reason but I'm sure you get it.
we have laws like that here in the US too, they're called 'Affirmative Action'
and require company's to meet quota's based on what the gov. felt was 'fair'.

Quote Originally Posted by JaggedEdge
So nobody is getting promoted because of all this. First of all, I see the merit in giving these tests in order for promotion. I'm not exactly sure what is on the test so I can't decide who is actually right. From what I gathered it is just testing your ability to read and write. Probably some questions relating to firefighting...

Regardless, I think it is important for the people being promoted to be able to read and write well. I would imagine those two skills are needed for those higher positions. Not to mention, if your going to be in command of others, you should be able to answer questions about your field.

I'm really interested in reading the test now.
i'm sure the test must be pretty difficult and loaded with fire science questions.
that's the whole point, if you're gonna put someone in charge, it has to be
because he really knows his stuff and not 'cause you need to hire a minority.

what that tells me is that the white guys that actually passed the test must
have studied more than the black guys who didn't pass the test.

which says further that the white guys deserve the promotions and the black
guys don't, period.

promotions should be color blind and awarded only to those that are actually
qualified.