A follow-up to Downfall of DEI is this quote from an FAA meeting on diversity:
“How much of a change in job performance is acceptable to achieve what diversity goals?”
Now while Donald Trump claiming that the Washington DC air crash was caused by DEI is at best questionable since training is supposed to weed out those who cannot hack it, this sort of quote inevitably calls questions about slipping standards across the board. However what is clear is the admissions process throwing merit out the window and there is a whiff of corruption in the process.
Some of the questions such as “prior ATC rating” and “appeal of being an ATC” had no correct answer but what did it for me was those answering science for “worst grade in high-school” getting bonus points, and along with maths this is a subject that if anything should be favoured. And they are bonus points because any other answer got zero.
For college the bonus points are for history. I can think of no legitimate reason why the correct answers to two all-or-nothing educational questions were diametrically opposite. And together they account for 30 points where the pass mark is 179 points. To me this is a system designed for cheating.
A tried-and-tested assessment was replaced with something that is dubious and suspect, in a clear case of an admissions process under pressure to meet targets no matter what. I did not dig much deeper into what was going on because by this point the question is the extent of nefarious intent. If this is even remotely representative of other sectors then the back-lash is well deserved. DEI in the US will likely be dead by the end of the year.
This is all part of a broader hiring scandal which has multiple overlapping issues but it is a clear case of how chasing targets trumpted ability. Did it compromise safety? Probably not but it is the duty of those pushing DEI to prove that.