Diversity Thursday

What could possibly be second and third order effects from aggressively pursuing race and ethnic based "goals," AKA quotas?

LT James M. Carroll's (USN) thesis from NPS gives some interesting facts to chew on.

"On average, Non-Hispanic Asians and Non Hispanic Whites are more likely to attrite when assigned to a non-technical job than to a technical one; in contrast, most minorities are far more likely to attrite when serving in a technical job. Further research is recommended to explore these results and to suggest approaches that might assist in lowering attrition rates among minorities, particularly those assigned to technical occupations."

Could there be something where people are being put in fields they may not be academically suited for? In a zero-sum game, that may explain some of the numbers as no one wants to do something they are not good at - and for those pushed off - no one likes to be underemployed. Something causes it. Second and third order effects? Maybe. Culture? Maybe. Everyone else in industry looking for the same diversity candidates? Maybe. Beyond the ability of the Navy to change. Maybe.

There is all sorts of good stuff in here --- some of which needs to briefed to the CNO.

First of all, this nukes the garbage the Diversity Bullies feed him about the need to have the "right" color officers.

[W]ith respect to race, the black and Hispanic [high school] graduates are no more likely than whites to attrite. It concluded that there was no compelling evidence that after controlling for other characteristics, these black and Hispanic graduates are more likely to stay in service because of differentially lower discrimination in the military than the civilian sector.

As we all know, the key is the eduction level in the front door.

...education level tends to be a major determining factor in first-term attrition.

If you want more of certain minorities - then the guv'munt edumucation system needs to do a better job educating non-White and non-Asian Americans.

I like this too. As we all know - you know which ethnic group is All-American when it comes to the Navy. Man, we get the best bang for the buck from these guys and girls.

Asians tend to have the lowest attrition rate among racial/ethnic groups, and North American Indians/Alaskan Natives have the highest. Furthermore, the study identified Filipinos as having the the lowest overall attrition rate of the various racial/ethnic subgroups. He also found that attrition rates increase with AFQT from category IIIB to category IIIA for certain racial/ethnic groups and subgroups, such as whites, blacks and Filipinos. Again, Filipinos recorded the lowest attrition rates across all AFQT categories for all Asian ethnic groups.
...
Filipinos who enlisted under this (Philippines Enlistment Program) program exhibited high educational attainment levels and high AFQT scores. Maligat also found that Filipinos had high short-term and long-term continuation rates. His finding also confirmed low attrition rates of Filipinos in the Navy. Filipinos were found to advance more rapidly and have fewer derogatory reentry codes. Maligat’s findings led him to conclude that the program was valuable and should be reinstituted.

Seriously. Give me a ship full of them. I would bet them LBG's Little Black Book that the ship would be better, cleaner, have fewer problems, and more importantly - the food would be a lot better. That and I bet you could get Skippy to show up at every family picnic.

You should really take time to look over the whole thing - because near the end some very good points come out - mostly informed by some data summaries such as the next three tables that lead to the paragraph.

Examine the gap in educational quality between Whites and minorities to determine ways to make minorities more competitive for technical occupations. Efforts to narrow this gap might lead to placing more individuals in a technical occupation who might have otherwise been assigned to a non-technical rating. Conduct an in-depth analysis of the occupational assignment process, particularly for minorities. Questions to be answered could include: Are we assigning the most qualified minority group members to technical occupations, or do we find other, extraneous factors driving job assignment?

Yes. Very good question.

But my good LT - we could have done without this little bit of smack-a55.

In today’s competitive job market and economy, it is essential that the Navy continue searching for ways to retain the quality individuals who volunteer to serve our nation. It is even more essential to preserve the diverse composition of today’s Navy. As the Chief of Naval Operations states: “Our Navy must reflect the face of our nation, and that’s why it’s of interest to me to attract and retain young men and women of minority communities to come into the Navy, because only if we do that will we reflect the face of our nation.” 46 This is why the study of attrition among minorities remains important and relevant to the future of our nation’s military.

But I'll cut you some slack because you did a good job with your thesis - and as a LT, I probably would have done the same thing

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As a side-note, if you think we will be looking forward towards a better way of dealing with Diversity in the military - well you would be wrong. I looks like the CINC has selected someone who, we see all to much - is a Boomer mostly focused on his personal story and '60/70s set perspective. Click here to find out more.

....and yes, I know what magazine that is. I "don't care."