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Paul Muter
Letter to Editor, University of Toronto Bulletin
Diversity Can Increase Excellence
Professor John Furedy apparently fails to recognize that there are at least two conditions under which increasing diversity tends to increase excellence (Employment Equity Report Flawed, May 6).
First, increased diversity can lead to increased excellence if membership in a category is relevant to job performance. For example, a police force is likely to perform better if its diversity matches the diversity of those being policed.
Second, increased diversity can lead to increased excellence if there has been discrimination against a group. For example, excellence in major league baseball increased dramatically as diversity increased in the 1940s and 1950s.
Paul Muter, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto