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From: rafferty@cmu-cs-edu1.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: My God... did I *really* say *that*?
Message-ID: <351@cmu-cs-edu1.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 9-Jun-85 00:30:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-e.351
Posted: Sun Jun  9 00:30:58 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Jun-85 04:01:18 EDT
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 33


[Ed Gould writes:]

>>A basic requirement for AA to be fair is a *realistic* setting of
>>percentage quotas ...
>>                                             (I call a realistic
>>percentage the percentage that a "color-blind" and "gender-blind"
>>employer would end up hiring by accident.  I have a suspicion that AA
>>fans favor higher quotas than this.)
>
>Certainly some of us do.  The quotas should be high enough such that
>we get to a state where the percentages are those that the "blind"
>employer would hire if there were no discrimination *and there never had 
>been*. If there were enough role models for girls so that they would aspire
>to these jobs, then your quota idea would probably be enough.  But there
>aren't nearly enough women who are "successful" enough to provide
>those models.  Until there are, then we neet to over-balance the scales.

What utter bull!  How can we say that we have to create role models for any
kind of minorities?  What we want is people hired in a non-discriminatory
fashion.  It does not follow that we have to push women into "male-oriented"
jobs.  Not that I'm saying that we should try to dissuade them, but if they
don't want to take advantage of their potential, then that's their problem,
and I shouldn't be held responsible for their stupidity.  

And when do we stop having these over-balancing quotas?  Maybe we'll go too
far some day soon, and we'll have to discriminate for white males, in order
to overcome the prejudice against them.

----
            Colin Rafferty { Math Department, Carnegie-Mellon University }

"The pendulum swings back again."