Opinion: The Difference Between Bias and Standards

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Scott Mason

With Interfraternity Council Rush week and Pan-Hellenic Council Recruitment having just passed us by, it is important to understand the difference between being biased and setting a standard for decision-making. Fraternities and sororities each get a bad reputation for being elitist, exclusive, overwhelming, drama-filled cliques; however any person who takes the time to spend time with the various brothers and sisters here at George Mason University knows that this is, at most, a half-truth.

The fact is that organizations that are selective always receive a reputation that they make their decisions in a biased manner because the service they are providing is limited to a certain number of seats within a set of guidelines and standards.

These organizations have standards that they set on various levels of organizations ranging from the personal standards of their leadership at a chapter or colony level all the way up to their national and international headquarters. The standards are, at least ideally, to have their members be the best in a given arena.

This differs from bias. Bias is more a matter of personal opinion or prejudice than a set of standards. Bias controls nearly all of our social actions through and through in an almost innate way that seems beyond rational thought.

Of course, we all have our own personal biases, we are all humans raised in social climates and taught by others who pass on their beliefs to us. Bias also oversteps the concept of standard setting in that a person may meet all of your own personal wants and needs, yet because of the bias you possess you choose to either overlook your standards or maybe even unjustly enforce them. Many people’s biases can’t be compromised, whereas standards can.

Many of us have bad feelings about organizations such as Greek Life because we feel that they were the victim of the compromising of standards because of bias. This is a sad fact that many Greek organizations combat on a daily basis. Yet, organizations many times move beyond this and correct it when their standards are breached. Every business and organization goes through this, and the White House has seemed more on this front in the past eight years on the Scooter Libby-Dick Cheney-Karl Rove-Alberto Gonzales front.

The important thing is that when there are wrongs, they are corrected. Once again, these are humans running these organizations so there will be faults and successes. As to where this leads us, standard setting is something all of us could use. When we say that someone or something has low standards, it is never a good thing. Setting standards for ourselves is essential to success. It is where success starts, if you have no standards for your own personal behavior and life, than it can’t become anything more than mediocre.

What’s more important is that the standards be set by yourself and not others. It must be something that you have come to on a sound mind with full realization of your own capabilities and what you believe is possible. Any standards set arbitrarily, much like bias, will fail at one point or another and compromise will happen. All the angles must be played out and the final set of guidelines will not come easy or without review. The Constitution, judicial opinions and the United States Law Code all came at constant discussion and debate, and they still haven’t gotten it right after 200 years. The important this is to start and begin building your standards, and then success will follow.

So, how do we then overcome all of our biases, set uncompromising standards and succeed at life? Truthfully, it will be extremely difficult and is rarely mastered, but each step is crucial to the success of any persons or as the case may be a fraternity or sorority. The process of striving for these things, and the conscious decision making required allows for success. It forces us to think about how were are now, are we doing what we should and what can we do to be better at what we are doing.

The challenge this week is to set standards in all aspects in your life: in your student organizations, in your relationships, in your school work and your career. The process of setting standards and overcoming the biases we carry just make take you beyond the success you hoped for.