Tony,
I hear what you say, but I still believe that it is the right thing to do to try and be as open minded as possible.

When I tutored the repeat students at varsity, I made them write only their student number on their assignments - no names, in order to remove any possibility of bias.

I have to admit to some academic snobbishness, too - I look at politicians academic qualifications
 (or lack thereof) when they write about the Economy, for instance.