| Eminent astronomer, John Kormendy, decided to cancel himself after trying to use data to make hiring and promoting people less subjective. While honest people will admit that there is a lot more than credentials that make the right candidate for a job, the fact that Professor Kormendy suggested merit should be rewarded was not well-received by the equity crowd. In a similar vein, scholars at the University of North Carolina claim that valuing “rigor and excellence” is unfair and outdated. But what starts in the academy often doesn’t stay there, with the LA Times reporting that experts say the way to help struggling students is to ditch grading systems. While not every system of assessment is created equal, the assumption seems to be that racism is the cause of discrepancies in outcome, rather than assessing the quality of the curriculum and the teaching. As has been said elsewhere, low expectations are a form of bigotry, even if only a soft version. |
