OT: judging and ethics
- Subject: OT: judging and ethics
- From: M* M*
- Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 10:06:22 -0500
From: "Mark, Maureen" <MARKM@tc.gc.ca>
I attended a very useful judges training session on ethics given by Dorothy
Fingerhood. I was surprised at how much guidance on ethics was actually
provided in the judges handbook.
Perry's comments on that judges should stand back when unfamiliar with the
class of iris raised a number of questions for me.
What if none of the judges are comfortable with judging the class?
Is the show chairman responsible for making sure that the judges secured can
cover the waterfront of irises?
What if the weather plays havoc and a whole different range of irises are
shown and the judges are unfamiliar with many of them?
For current AIS judges, what do you do when you are uncertain about the
identification of a particular cultivar? Do you give it the benefit of the
doubt?
I'm sorry to hear about your experience, Perry, but judges do make mistakes.
That's why an appeal mechanism is important -- to inform judges. I
complained once at a hort. show when the judge disqualified my rose as he
considered that it was exhibited in the wrong class. The judge, who didn't
know that I had complained, mentioned the next year that he learned
something from that show. He looked up that particular cultivar and said
that he wouldn't ever make that mistake again.
Judge's training is important too but it is not always easy to get the
judge's training that we all need. Other priorities do get in the way
sometimes. (I can't believe I'm saying that on this list! Irises RULE,
don't they?)
Maureen Mark
m*@ottawa.com
Ottawa, Canada (zone 4)
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