New York Scraps Literacy Test for Teachers After Minorities Fail to Pass It

You wouldn’t think that a reading test for prospective teachers would be controversial. After all, if someone doesn’t have a firm grasp of the English language, then you wouldn’t want them to be anywhere near your children in a classroom setting. In New York however, the ability to read apparently isn’t as important as diversity.

The state’s Board of Regents recently decided to scrap the Academic Literacy Skills Test, which is designed to test the English reading and writing skills of people who are trying to become certified teachers. The test was first implemented in 2013 in an attempt to raise the quality of teachers in New York, by weeding out weaker candidates. But because certain minorities fared poorly on the test the board wants it gone. While 64% of white candidates passed the test, only 41% of blacks and 46% of Hispanics could pass it.

Pace University professor Leslie Soodak, who was a member of the taskforce that wanted to get rid of the test, told AP that the test doesn’t really predict if someone is going to be a good teacher. “We want high standards, without a doubt. Not every given test is going to get us there.” So then, what is the point of any test in any given field? That’s why they’re called tests. They test your capabilities. I suppose then we should scrap every test that doesn’t give equal results to everyone, and let incompetent people run our institutions.

Soodak also lamented that “having a white workforce really doesn’t match our student body anymore.”

So why is it so bad that there are more white teachers? The people who oppose this test, do so because they say that minorities are at a disadvantage due to a history of racism and poverty. They’re simply not as well-educated. So how does it help minority students if their minority teachers can’t read or write? Wouldn’t it be better to have an education staff that is more competent, and just so happens to be more white, so that they can teach the next generation of minority students? Then someday we can expect them to be just as educated as their white peers, and they won’t have any trouble becoming teachers themselves.

Nope, I guess it’s better to have incompetent teachers who will ensure that the next generation of minority students is just as poorly educated as them. This is perhaps the greatest tragedy of political correctness, affirmative action, and social justice. The people who claim to care the most about minorities, are doing them the most harm.