   Discrimination ethics
  I''m the coach of a fictional basketball team in a very large high school. I need two new players for my team this year, but I have received hundreds of written demands. I don''t have the time to meet them all in person, so I have to preselect a few of them. I need tall players, but unfortunately, I have forgotten to ask them to write their height on the application form.Am I allowed (morally and, where I to publicly confess it, legally) to favor black players over white and asian players because they are more likely to be tall?Cédric 
  Is that statistically true?  but probably is unethical, as the individual non=black players will feel discriminated against. ;You are allowed with minory groups and visible minority groups.  You can''t do the same with white people (except when they are Jewish) over others.  Universities were doing this, giving minority groups a higher chance of getting in (marks didn''t matter as much).Screwed up world we live in;quote:Original post by Witchcraven  Is that statistically true?I don''t know, but assume for the purpose of this exercise that it is.  ;quote:Original post by Cedric  I''m the coach of a fictional basketball team in a very large high school. I need two new players for my team this year, but I have received hundreds of written demands. I don''t have the time to meet them all in person, so I have to preselect a few of them. I need tall players, but unfortunately, I have forgotten to ask them to write their height on the application form.Am I allowed (morally and, where I to publicly confess it, legally) to favor black players over white and asian players because they are more likely to be tall?Cédric   Morallly, only you can decide what you can and can not do.  If the fact that you were too stupid to ask for heights and too lazy to ask for the information now is enough reason for you to justify cutting out a large portion of your potential candidates, then by all means go for it.  Legally, in the US, you had damn well better consider every applican equally.  Strictly speaking, your application shouldn''t even have their race on it, so you''ve probably already stepped on some toes.  But admitting that you didn''t consider white guys because they''re too short is a quick way to get fired.CM ;quote:Original post by particleG  You are allowed with minory groups and visible minority groups.  You can''t do the same with white people (except when they are Jewish) over others.  Universities were doing this, giving minority groups a higher chance of getting in (marks didn''t matter as much).Screwed up world we live inI won''t pretend to know all the details of affirmative action rules, but I''m pretty certain you''d be hard pressed to find a public University that only considers Asians because they''re better at math.CM ;  If you had time, you should organize the postulants in teams and make them play each other, and select them for how they play. If you are going to make your team from statistics then there is a high probability that your team will suck.EDIT: You want and example? Watch the last two times Argentina played with the Dream Team. That will almost throw your statistics to hell.   [edited by - owl on February 14, 2004 6:21:44 PM];quote:Original post by Conner McCloud  Legally, in the US, you had damn well better consider every applican equally.But I am considering them equally. It''s just one more inferring. A tall player is more likely to become a good basketball player than a small player. A random black person is more likely (assumedly) to be tall than a random white person.quote:Strictly speaking, your application shouldn''t even have their race on itIt can be inferred from the individual''s name, much like above. A guy named "Jawad" is more likely to be African than a guy named "Smith".quote:But admitting that you didn''t consider white guys because they''re too shortNot that I wouldn''t consider them, but it would be a minus for them in the application screening process. Like not being fluent in English is a minus for someone applying for a salesman position.Cédric ;quote:Not that I wouldn''t consider them, but it would be a minus for them in the application screening process. Like not being fluent in English is a minus for someone applying for a salesman position.Um, no, it''s nothing like that.How''s this: put up an ad in the newspaper for a job and only offer it to black people. You''ll find out that a language requirement is much different than a race requirement in court.   "Next time a terrorist gets freed after ten months of red tape, I’ll be sure to thank [the democrats]. I guarantee you that if someone is put in prison with the Patriot Act, even in the rare chance they are not a terrorist or have connections to terrorism, they are sure as hell guilty of something." -- A True Die-Hard American Patriot ;quote:Original post by owl   If you had time, you should organize the postulants in teams and make them play each otherBut that's the crucial part: I don't have time. In fact, it can be said that any application process will make this kind of statistical inferring at one point or the other. The hired candidate is not necessarily the best candidate by any means. If I were interviewing someone for a slaesman position, and the guy is comfortable with me, I assume that he will be comfortable with customers too. But that's no guarantee. Maybe he has a phobia of women, for instance.quote:You want and example? Watch the last two times Argentina played with the Dream Team. That will almost throw your statistics to hellPlease don't get emotional about it. But may I point out that one example doesn't constitute a statistic?Cédric   [edited by - Cedric on February 14, 2004 6:25:50 PM]