Discrimination is a word deserving of the negative connotation it typically carries. We know profiling is a detriment to society simply because of the ridiculous situations in which profiling occurs. For example, Nov. 2, Congressional Quarterly Politics reported the FBI had tracked sales of falafel in San Francisco in 2005 and 2006 in the hopes of identifying possible members of Hezbollah on U.S. soil — allegations that the FBI has neither confirmed nor denied. Buying falafel, it would seem, is the new "having nail clippers in an airport" or "driving while black."
Similarly, proposed employment rights of transgender persons have been sacrificed due to their perceived unpopularity in the latest version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Of course, when a job can be performed equally well by a man or a woman, it is absurd to think a person with one foot in both worlds will not pass muster, and the bill should have reflected that. It is clear the picture of equality painted by the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment is not the present reality, but rather an idealistic goal.
However, complete egalitarianism would be an irresponsible way to analyze our society, and we know it. On Nov. 5, an extensive report titled "The Status of Girls in Wisconsin" was released in Milwaukee — a joint effort by Alverno College, the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Women's Council and the Women's Fund of Greater Milwaukee. This compilation of surveys and statistics made the necessary distinction between the behavior and living conditions of girls ages 10 to 19 living in Wisconsin and that of their male counterparts. It should be noted that were discrimination truly extinguishable, we would believe we are beyond a point in history where such surveys are necessary.
In this data on health, education, socializing, violence, criminal activity, use of technology and other areas, we can find plenty of examples in which Wisconsin girls do not enjoy parity. In standardized tests in English and math, Wisconsin girls have been shown to test better than boys on the former, and worse on the latter. Comparable results have been found on tests nationwide, yet it is taboo to suggest that any factor outside of socialization contributed to the differences. Former Harvard president Larry Summers stepped down from his position after doing just that. But Summers' resignation will not help resolve the differences between girls' math scores and boys'. Focusing extra effort on Wisconsin girls' math studies will.
Frankly, social change is most efficiently achieved through targeting demographics. We already do this in ways we don't even realize. For instance, we don't have special seats on buses and subways for little people or people who are extremely large. Public transportation only targets the demographic of average-sized people when solving the social problem of commuting around town, and by doing so, does the greatest good.
In the same way, if the government of Wisconsin wants to see the greatest reduction in teen pregnancies by the time the next "Status of Girls" report is released, efforts and resources must be concentrated on those cities, rural counties and ethnic groups with the highest rates of teen parenthood. A light sprinkling of sex education funding around the entire state will not have nearly the same effect.
Complete political correctness leads to waste of resources and idealistic nonsense. Endless time and money is spent on frivolous litigation from people who follow nondiscrimination laws to their natural conclusion. Hypothetically, reason says any blind person who somehow passes a driver's examination is legally entitled to a driver's license. On the other hand, demographic profiling is a step backward toward the denial of constitutional and human rights. Endless time and money will be wasted on lawsuits trying to win back the rights we lost in the name of, say, homeland security. Thus, we need to find a middle ground. We are suffering from an imperfect picture of practical discrimination. If we ever hope to tackle political gray areas like affirmative action and immigration quotas, we will wish our tangled web of laws did not mandate the spending of tax dollars on token gestures of equality.
Carla Dogan ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in economics.
