The following item is part of a series of pieces written by the students of MVHS English teacher, Kim Hardy. Assigned to write letters to the editor, members of her class submitted their completed assignments to The Progress for publication. These will be published in upcoming editions.
By DAKOTA McCAULEY
Are you tired of fast food workers getting your order wrong? I am.
A few months ago, I traveled to Boulder City to ride my mountain bike in preparation for an upcoming race. As we started home, we stopped at Jack in the Box to cure our hunger. When we tried to place our order, it became painfully clear that the elderly hispanic lady taking the order was not the best person for the job. She could hardly speak English and we found ourselves repeating our order multiple times.
In the end it was all in vain. When we got our food, we realized our order was all wrong. However, we decided that asking for a refund or compensation would be even more work and so we began the trek home.
This experience is unfortunately all too common. With the eradication of merit, and the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) fast food is taking a turn for the worse.
If it was restricted to fast food, all we would have to complain about is a lopsided cheeseburger once in a while. Instead this affects all of our systems from factories, government, and hospitals. This is not good for anyone, especially the average Joe who can’t afford to get around these policies as they go about life.
One system that is an extremely good example of the severity of this problem is the airline system. In a public statement, United Airlines stated: “Racial Quotas will be prioritized over Qualifications in Pilot Hiring.” This means that people will be hired based on their skin color rather than their skill as a pilot.
If you don’t have the best pilot, are you as safe as you can be? Of course not. This is evident as more and more crashes have occured over the past few years as a result of the poor hiring practices found in DEI.
To combat this, we need to implement merit in our hiring practices. This will keep everyone safer and happier. Apart from this, consumers will be able to enjoy better products.
This is evidenced in a study conducted in Brazil. It examined multiple factories. Half of the factories ran on systems of merit; the other half did not. The study concluded that systems that worked off of merit were able to produce a higher quantity and better quality products. Consequently they generated more profit than their counterparts and had less complaints from their customers.
Currently, I find the importance of merit understated and even demeaned. It faces endless waves of criticism and countless efforts to implement other systems of hiring and promotion.
Our civilization is the beneficiary of merit, yet its current constituents call for its eradication. We should stay clear of systems that do not rely on the principles of merit.
DEI and race-based hiring will produce lesser goods and services which will hurt both the consumer and producer. By avoiding these, we can get what we order from fast food restaurants and feel safe as we fly.
These high stakes require us to do everything in our power to incorporate merit in our civilizations. We stand to gain so much through merit. So do your part to promote it.
