Math is racist?!?!?!
 

Flame away!

Feds say Beach's math exam for police recruits is discriminatory
By DUANE BOURNE, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 9, 2006

VIRGINIA BEACH — The U.S. Justice Department has found that the math portion of the Virginia Beach Police Department’s entrance exam discriminates against black and Hispanic applicants.

In a letter to the city released Wednesday, the Justice Department said its findings were based on results of a math test administered to all entry-level police officers.

The Justice Department said it will sue the city if Virginia Beach does not take appropriate measures to end discrimination and provide “sufficient remedial relief” to previous job applicants.

On Wednesday, city officials said they do not discriminate and the math portion of the exam assesses job-related skills.

Police Chief A.M. “Jake” Jacocks Jr. said the city will cooperate with the Justice Department and will not act until it discusses the findings with federal officials. No date has been set.

The hiring practices of the city’s police and fire departments were called into question in 2004 after a study showed a disparity between the racial composition of its population and its police and fire departments.

About 20 percent of Virginia Beach’s population is black and about 5 percent is Hispanic, according to the Census Bureau.

As of January, 15.9 percent of the city’s police officers were identified as minority. About 10.1 percent of the police force is black – an increase from 9 percent two years ago.

The announcement in 2004 of the Justice Department inquiry prompted the

Virginia Beach branch of the NAACP to chastise the city for what it said were unfair hiring practices.

At the time, branch President Georgia F. Allen called on City Manager James K. Spore to resign because of the low number of black city employees.

On Wednesday, Carl Wright, vice president of the Virginia Beach NAACP branch, said, “It is a shame that the Department of Justice had to come in here and say that we see discrimination. Ray Charles could have seen it.”

Wright said the city should have taken action on its own long ago. He said the national office of the NAACP is prepared to take action against the city if the problem is not remedied.

A separate Justice Department inquiry into possible discrimination in the hiring of Chesapeake police and fire employees has been pending since 2004. So far, there is no word on whether it has concluded.

Since the Virginia Beach investigation began, the city has sought to attract a police force representative of the growing minority population.

The city has reviewed the recruiting selection process and made several changes to address the pass-fail rate on the written exam, including adding 10 minutes to the math section and providing a study guide to all applicants.

“We want to increase our minority representation,” Jacocks said Wednesday. “It is important for us to do that. I am not convinced that a simple math test is the cause of our problem.”

The city requires all recruits to score at least 70 percent on all parts of the written exam – the National Police Officer Selection Test.

Between 2002 and mid-2005, about 59 percent of black applicants and 66 percent of Hispanic applicants passed the math test, compared with 85 percent of white applicants, according to the Justice Department letter.

First administered to Virginia Beach candidates in 1998, the test is designed to assess basic skills of a police officer. It is offered to prospective officers in 20 other states, according to the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.

“This is not a test we developed,” Jacocks said. “We are not looking for rocket scientists. This is a basic math aptitude test.”

One sample question framed a problem in the context of police work: “On Tuesday, Officer Jones worked the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. At 10:55 p.m. he was called to the scene of an accident where he remained until 1:30 a.m. How long past his regular shift did Officer Jones work?”

Charles W. Meyer, the city’s chief operating officer, said it will be easy to address the Justice Department’s findings because they are focused on one specific area.

“We will do whatever we can to eliminate whatever barriers there may be,” Meyer said. “We also want to make sure that we are not discriminating against minority groups to achieve the balance of high standards and recruit qualified police officers.”

The Justice Department said it will delay filing a lawsuit against Virginia Beach until March 7 to give the city time to negotiate a settlement.

Here are some sample questions from the test:

1. Johnny has an AK-47 with an 80-round clip. If he misses 6 out of 10 shots and shoots 13 times at each drive-by shooting, how many drive-by shootings can he attempt before he has to reload?

2. Jose has 2 ounces of cocaine and he sells an 8-ball to Jackson for $320 and 2 grams to Billy for $85 per gram. What is the street value of the balance of the cocaine if he doesn't cut it?

3. Rufus is pimping for three girls. If the price is $65 for each trick, how many tricks will each girl have to turn so Rufus can pay for his $800-per-day crack habit?

4. Jarone want to cut his 1/2 pound of heroin to make 20% more profit. How many ounces of cut will he need?

5. Willie gets $200 for stealing a BMW, $50 for a Chevy, and $100 for a 4X4. If he has stolen 2 BMWs, 3 4X4s, how many Chevies will he have to steal to make $800?

6. Raoul is in prison for 6 years for murder. He got $10,000 for the hit. If his common law wife is spending $100 per month, how much money will be left when he gets out of prison and how many years will he get for killing the b!tch that spent his money?

7. If the average spray can covers 22 square feet and the average letter is 3 square feet, how many letters can a tagger spray with 3 cans of paint?

8. Hector knocked up 6 girls in his gang. There are 27 girls in the gang. What percentage of the girls in the gang has Hector knocked up?

9. Thelma can cook dinner for her 16 children for $7.50 per night. She gets $234 a month welfare for each child. If her $325 per month rent goes up 15%, how many more children should she have to keep up with her expenses?

10. Salvador was arrested for dealing crack and his bail was set at $25,000. If he pays a bail bondsman 12% and returns to Mexico, how much money will he lose by jumping bail?

Eeeeeeverybody knows that minorities have a physiological reason for not being as fast at math, but I'm sure the minority applicants probably run faster.

:rolleyes:

:D :D :D

1 - 6
2 - $4521.56 (Assuming the weights are good and his scales)
3 - If Rufus is an A-hole, 13 (Taking all the money), otherwise not enough info
4 - 1.2 oz of cut
5 - 2 chevies
6 - $2800
7 - 22 letters
8 - 22.22%
9 - Only one and she gets a bonus of $172/month
10 - $3000

What do I win?

LOL Widebody!!! :D

How do the Asians do on the math portion of the test?

I'd of missed one of those not knowing how much/what an "8 ball" was.

Rick,
I read that the other day....Raceist, I don't think so...I can't, or don't want to believe that will hold water. Kinda makes you want to write a letter to the editor with a reality check.

The scary part is that the DOJ is the one causing a problem about the test.

The "Dumbing down of America" continues. UnFreekin believable. Hopefully a Black or Hispanic political figure will interveen and pubicly denounce this article.




Still waiting?

The fact that I scored 100%, does that make me racist?

See, that's where homeschooling holds you back. :D

Sorry, I couldn't resist!!! :P

If you ever get a speeding ticket, note the officer's race and "play the race card". :)

Just means you aren't black or Hispanic. If you were Asian, you would have scored a 120. That's right, you would have answered the two math questions that weren't on the test. :p

Bottom line is we are sinking like the Roman Empire when they started using too much lead in their cookware. Our problem is we graduate more lawyers than engineers. People are professionally offended. Most amazing statistic I ever read was something about the Intel science fair of 2004. The US had a good year; 60,000 kids entered. In China it was 6,000,000.

1/8th of an ounce of cocaine

As a Hispanic cop, I want the standards held to the highest level. I would not want a job because of the color of my skin. That has nothing to do with the job that I do. We are making a huge mistake by lowering standards.

I want to earn every position and rank, David

When Clinton was Pres, His head of Affirmative action programs (The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) sent Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA, where I live a letter, saying they were opening an investigation because Six Flags had advertised for "Bright, Articulate, Attractive, etc." people to come and join their team. It seems that the EEOC thought the ad was discriminatory against blacks, hispanics and asians. After much deliberation and thought, Six Flags sent back a letter to the EEOC asking if it was their official position that blacks, hispanics and asians were not Bright, Articulate or Attractive?" The EEOC dropped the investigation.

In addition, colleges and universities have lowered standards. Same with high schools. Should some folks be learning college algebra when they have no concept of how to balance a checkbook?

Let us push those with great potential further. We need them. We also have those who are destined to do grunt work at the local plant. They need skills to survive in the real world: balancing the checkbook, math skills, and English comprehension.

Lowering standards so they all fit the mold stifles the creative and bright minds and gives others no preparation for the real world.

There's a big stink in the local school system. Apparently, teachers were giving students the answers to the Tennessee Aptitude Tests. What the fock does this accomplish besides graduating morons?

America should never lower it's standards. PERIOD.