Bias and Performance

Imagine a new referee is needed for the Steelers Bengals game.   Who would a Bengals fan want?  Who would a Steelers fan want?   Who would be best?

The best is obvious.  The best choice would be a judge who lived in Alaska for all his or her life, and had never met anyone from either place.

The bad news is that nobody can find a judge like that.   Nobody can find a ref like that.   Imagine that the only choices are people nominated by Bengals fans or people nominated by Steelers fans.   This isn't so bad.   Either side might nominate someone from Montana or Canada, Rhode Island or Guam.

Neither of them do that.   The only nominees are lifetime residents of either town, residents who have attended multiple home games.   When a job comes open, it is either a Cincinnati boy or a Pittsburgh one.

In this example it is no big deal.   Now imagine someone from Pittsburgh gets to hire whoever he or she wants, imagine the job is a lifetime appointment, and imagine that hire has a Pittsburgh forever tattoo on his arm.




(POORLY WRITTEN) 


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding bias....

Anyone who thinks a person can't have a strong feeling and still do the job, ought to ask a teacher if they have ever failed a student they loved to have in class.