Police officers in Lawrence and Methuen, Massachusetts, have filed a lawsuit charging that their police supervisors’ exams discriminate against minorities … because they employ multiple choice questions. Proof of the discrimination, they claim, is that
… the supervisors in both departments do not reflect the diversity of either city….
They say the multiple-choice format of the test, not the content of the questions, has blocked the rise of minorities, many of whom grew up speaking a different language. They want the state to devise a promotion system that would better reflect the skills used by a police supervisor, instead of how well they answer multiple-choice questions.
“We’re not looking for any advantage; we’re looking for an equal playing field, which we believe we still don’t have,” said Hemenegildo Martinez Jr., president of the Massachusetts Hispanic Law Enforcement Association, which is also a plaintiff in the case. “The numbers show that, and it’s the end result that counts.”
No special advantage. Just hire by the “numbers” so that the “end results” exactly reflect the racial and ethnic demographics of the community. An “equal playing field” is a field where each group’s quota is filled.
If multiple-choice tests are too hard, I guess essay questions are out of the question!