Honestly, I thought it was embarrassing. The idea that you can't control your feelings enough to judge someone based on merit - even when you're conscious of your own bias - reveals an incredible lack of emotional intelligence. It seems like a gimmick created to soothe the nerves of social justice activists.
It was very strange to me that anyone would focus so much on diversity as much as Hacker School has. So I was looking around their site, and I suddenly found the quote that explains their near-obsession: "We make money by helping companies hire our alumni." Suddenly it all makes sense! Companies need to fill diversity quotas, so they turn to Hacker School to get as many women, hispanic/latino and black people as they can.
There's plenty of research pointing to the fact that some racial bias is actually unconscious. Conscious or not, this seem like a perfectly reasonable way to avoid it.
Your second conjecture is a bit tin-foil-hat to even address, but here goes: why does it seem strange to you that a prominent organization in the technology community would focus on diversity? Diversity breeds innovation - the more diverse the tech industry, the better it is for all of us (and by all of us, I'm referring to the entirety of the species). Diversity is a worthy goal in and of itself. There doesn't need to be an ulterior motive.
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Honestly, I thought it was embarrassing. The idea that you can't control your feelings enough to judge someone based on merit - even when you're conscious of your own bias - reveals an incredible lack of emotional intelligence. It seems like a gimmick created to soothe the nerves of social justice activists.
It was very strange to me that anyone would focus so much on diversity as much as Hacker School has. So I was looking around their site, and I suddenly found the quote that explains their near-obsession: "We make money by helping companies hire our alumni." Suddenly it all makes sense! Companies need to fill diversity quotas, so they turn to Hacker School to get as many women, hispanic/latino and black people as they can.
There's plenty of research pointing to the fact that some racial bias is actually unconscious. Conscious or not, this seem like a perfectly reasonable way to avoid it.
Your second conjecture is a bit tin-foil-hat to even address, but here goes: why does it seem strange to you that a prominent organization in the technology community would focus on diversity? Diversity breeds innovation - the more diverse the tech industry, the better it is for all of us (and by all of us, I'm referring to the entirety of the species). Diversity is a worthy goal in and of itself. There doesn't need to be an ulterior motive.