Skimping on Merit

To the Editor:

George Silberman's Nov. 10 letter (Argument Won't Hold) was right on the mark.

Brandon Ward, president of the NYC chapter of Blacks in Government, was completely correct in assailing the arbitrary and capricious standards (i.e. Iris Weinshall's remark, "qualifications are guidelines only") employed when the merit-system is bypassed, but completely wrong in lamely attempting to link "disparate impact" on standardized tests to that same problem.

The merit system was initiated decades ago to eradicate the rampant nepotism and cronyism that was endemic to municipal hiring prior to the 1930s.

The merit system is not a panacea and it isn't designed to ensure that every group is equally represented in every job. The only rightful goal of the merit system is to ensure that the best-qualified candidates (based on a set of standardized criteria) are chosen for each position.

In that regard, the current pass/fail physical for the FDNY is a step in the wrong direction. Highly competitive exams with high standards do not, in and of themselves, discriminate against any particular group.

Firefighting is a very physical, labor-intensive pursuit, and taking the short-sighted view that "a pool of minimally qualified candidates is as effective a means of creating a quality workforce as is a pool of candidates rank-ordered from a highly competitive exam with high standards" diminishes the quality of the work force by placing the emphasis on a value-neutral asset, "diversity," over actual quality.

JOSEPH M. KEARNEY