The Controversy of Personality Tests
· The parties involved are a journalist from the Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch, a test preparation company, a psychological association and Barbara Ehrenreich.
· Barbara Ehreneich brought the issue to my attention, however, it is a wildly spread controversy. While researching, I came across bloggers who dislike the personality tests. However, the Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch found personality tests to be beneficial.
· The test preparation website, which is called Psychometric Success, provided tools and resources to help people take personality tests. They also had link to pages where the company expressed their thoughts about personality tests. In the company’s opinion, personality tests should not be a part of the hiring process and the employees that give the potential employees do not have the proper degree to process and analyze the information properly; therefore, the point of the personality test is not accomplished.
· The rhetorical strategies each party uses are effective. Psychometric Success uses logos in order to make the personality testing seem useless. Marketwatch also uses ethos and logos. Marketwatch is credible because it is part of the Wall Street Journal. The logos the author used also supported her view that personality tests have many positive aspects to them. Ehrenreich uses ethos and pathos. She is very credible because she actually took the personality test twice and had interesting experiences with them. The pathos she uses is her own opinion and views of the personality test. These views are triggered by her personal experience with taking the test.
Amanda Schafer: Drug Testing
For my midterm, I chose to drug testing. I kept getting articles about how Minnesota is currently trying to pass a bill where welfare recipients would need to take and pass a drug test in order to receive and renew their welfare benefits. I thought this topic would tie in well with the third chapter of Nickel and Dimed because this issue is being debated in Minnesota, which is where the third chapter takes place. Although Barbara Ehrenreich wasn’t on welfare, it can be assumed that some of her fellow employees were. Welfare was not a strong focus in Nickel and Dimed, but it goes hand-in-hand with poverty in Minnesota.
“Here's the bill:
Eligibility; drug screening.
(a) To be eligible for MFIP, an applicant must undergo drug and alcohol screening, to the extent practicable, following the established procedures and reliability safeguards provided for screening in sections 181.951, 181.953, and 181.954. A county agency may require a recipient of benefits to undergo random drug screening. An applicant must provide evidence of a negative test result to the appropriate county agency prior to being approved for MFIP benefits and prior to receiving an extension of benefits under section 256J.425.
(b) A laboratory must report to the appropriate county agency any positive test
result returned on an applicant or recipient of MFIP benefits. Upon receipt of a positive test result, a county agency must deny or discontinue benefits until the applicant or recipient demonstrates a pattern of negative test results that satisfies the agency that the
person is no longer a drug user.
(c) MFIP applicants and recipients shall pay for the full cost of each screening.”
(Collins, 2011)
*MFIP is the welfare system for low-income residents.
Sources
1. Minnesota among highest welfare spending. (2009, Sept 30). Winona Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_d949dfaa-ad74-11de-99cc-001cc4c03286.html
2. Amaral, B. (2011, Mar 04). Drug-testing bill has local support. Watertown Daily. Retrieved from http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110304/NEWS03/303049988
3. Cougar, D. (2011, Oct 20). Don't force drugs tests for welfare money. Minnesota Daily. Retrieved from http://www.mndaily.com/2011/10/20/don’t-force-drug-tests-welfare-money
4. Collins, B. (2011, Feb 02). Drug testing for welfare recipients. Retrieved from http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2011/02/drug_testing_for_welfare_recip.shtml
5. The Big E. (2011, February 02). Mn progressive project. Retrieved from http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/diary/8341/creating-new-jobs-by-drug-testing-welfare-recipients
6. Drug testing to curb welfare benefits?. (2012, Mar 19). Retrieved from http://bayontesting.com/drug-testing-curb-welfare-benefits/
7. Test country. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.testcountry.com/ProsandConsofDifferentDrugTestingMethods.html
6. Drug testing to curb welfare benefits?. (2012, Mar 19). Retrieved from http://bayontesting.com/drug-testing-curb-welfare-benefits/
7. Test country. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.testcountry.com/ProsandConsofDifferentDrugTestingMethods.html
