Posted 8:53 PM by Floyd

A letter I sent to the San Jose Mercury News:

The San Jose Mercury News editorial board said in a Sunday editorial that it would be unfair to make high school students take the state's 2004 exit exam if they might not be adequately prepared for it.

I am nearsighted, and last week had my vision measured so I could get a new prescription for my contact lenses. What if my optometrist had decided that it was unfair that some people had perfect eyesight and others did not, and told me that I had 20/20 vision? Would this be fair to me? Would it be fair to the people who drive on the same road as me?

Suppose the Mercury News hired a graduate of Equitable University, whose transcript showed that he had high grades. Suppose that this person did not really deserve his grades; he got them because someone at Equitable decided that the normal exams were unfair for some reason or another. What would his managers and peers at the Mercury News think? Would they say, "We must be mistaken in thinking he is a poor performer; he has good transcripts." Or would they say "Equitable University cannot be trusted; the next time we get a resume from an Equitable graduate, it goes in the garbage."