Opinion

It’s time to fire the judge Who rewards failure

The Issue: Back pay for minorities who scored higher than 25 on the FDNY exam but weren’t hired.

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Judge Nicholas Garaufis recently ruled that minorities who took past New York City’s firefighter tests and scored above a measly 25 out of a 100 will be compensated (“The Emperor’s New Outrage,” Editorial, March 10).

What a wonderful precedent to teach the youth of America. If you don’t study and prepare for an exam, just cry racism.

Parents look like fools for actually teaching kids to work hard for something in order to achieve a goal.

Chris Riordan

Merrick

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New Yorkers should be disgusted and outraged at Garaufis’ rulings.

What has become of our country when we reward failure and punish those who persevere and succeed?

Any literate and functioning human over the age of 10 would have been capable of scoring an 80 percent or better on the previous FDNY entrance exams, regardless of race.

To reward those who have scored as low as 26 percent with large sums of money is unconscionable.

The safety of all firefighters and city residents requires that stringent standards be set and met for all would-be candidates of the FDNY.

Robert Lennon

Monroe

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Over the course of the 30 years that I was a firefighter, the training resulted in more classroom time than ever before.

With classroom training in hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction and assisting the EMS, among other things, thumbing down the applicants’ abilities is going the wrong way.

Judges who have no credibility other than being ideologues should be removed from the process before people get hurt in a very serious job.

Tony Migliore

Valley Stream