In How Professors Think, Michele Lamont examines different perspectives and ideologies within disciplines that contribute to the formation of higher learning practices. She studies the how’s and why’s of particular judgments that are made by professors within six different disciplines. The disciplines examined by Lamont include: anthropologists, political scientists, literary scholars, economists, historians, and philosophers. Through the example of peer review, Lamont proves that one’s discipline, and the culture within their field greatly affects how one examines and determines excellence.
Lamont takes the concepts of academia and applies them to real life situations, such as peer review. She proves that the saying, “I know excellence when I see it” (107) is virtually impossible considering excellence is a relative concept and one person or discipline can not possibly determine such an objective standard. In addition, the overwhelming theme, put into the simplest concept, is relativism. A professor’s quality is determined by a particular group of people whose cultural background and perceptions establish how they are judged. When conducting scholarly evaluation, a professor judges students based on their cultural conditioning and background of knowledge. Lamont investigates how committees conduct peer reviews of different proposals from people that are seeking funding within the United States. Her findings show that “almost without exception, the panelists I talked with consider their deliberations fair and their panel able to identify the top proposals (Lamont, 108).” Many people do not realize the importance and commonality of the peer review system. The book is comprised of seven chapters, each with intricate details of ...
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...nt opinion. It is nearly impossible to evaluate any one scholar based on static criteria because of shifts in cultural discipline. It is the consistency of their style and ability to engage others in thought that separates the best from the mediocre. Her findings indicate that panel members are greatly influenced by their background and specialized interest. The process begins as individuals are gradually indoctrinated into their professional culture, which is later evident during their time on panels. Although Lamont provides several critiques to the process of peer review, she ultimately remains in favor of the concept. In reality, peer review is a process that those in higher education will inevitably encounter at some point in time. Lamont’s analysis provides a new perspective on not only the concept of peer review, but also on the transparency of evaluation.
Graff, Gerald. “Hidden Intellectualism”They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst, eds. New York: Norton, 2009. 297-303. Print.
Rose places great blame on the professors who assume that these students are culturally prepared to address, and analyze, ideas and concepts that they have never even heard of before. Students, who come from different cultures and backgrounds, are not prepared (especially on their own) to give up everything that have spent the past eight-teen years believing in, in order to write the prefect college essay.
Ungar, Sanford J. “The New Liberal Arts.” They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter In Academic Writing. Ed. Gerald Graff. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 190-197. Print.
Hoeft, Mary. "Professors in the Crosshairs | Inside Higher Ed." Professors in the Crosshairs Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Ed, 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
In Frank Bruni’s article “Higher Ed’s Lower Moment (December 30, 2017),” written for the New York Times, Bruni explicates his idea that college in today’s time is becoming more and more elitist, but if people intervene and take steps to reverse the process, colleges will become what they have always been: schools to educate America’s future. Bruni starts off this piece with a heavy appeal to logic through using statistics from reputable sources, such as Gallup and the Pew Research Center, and by collecting quotes from many college heads and officials; later in the piece, Bruni shifts more towards an appeal to ethos by providing qualifications for his sources, showing credibility and by telling the audience that they need to get involved and
Roland, K. A. (2009). Examining the under-representation of Aboriginal scholars in the Ontario professoriate: Implications for faculty recruitment and retention. Windsor, ON: University of Windsor Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Collection. Retrieved from http://winspace.uwindsor.ca/wintheses/roland1.pdf
Cantor Joanne. (1998) Ratings for Programs: The role of research findings. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science v557 pg54
Former professor of geophysics, Stuart Rojstaczer, in his informative op-ed piece, “Grade Inflation Gone Wild,” featured in “Christian Science Monitior(2009),” investigates grade inflation among universities today. Rojstaczer’s purpose is to inform and educate universities on the inflation of grades, and how an A has become the average grade among those schools. He adopts a dismissive tone when generalizing and addressing the students on their behaviors and actions. Rojstaczer found over 80 universities with data on they’re grades, using this he was able to better understand the inflation and also analyze possible solutions. His logos based writing portrays a negative connotation on todays students and their ability to achieve within the classroom. There is no hiding that the standard for grades has been on the rise sense the 1960’s, and is now at an average GPA of a 3.0, but rojstaczer may have lost his audience with his arrogant approach.
When Drew Gilpin Faust was selected as the 28th president of Harvard University in February 2007, a flurry of news and opinion articles marked a new era in higher education administration. She was described as “friendly, collaborative, a consensus builder, and a good administrator,” noting a change not just in institutional direction for Harvard, but in leadership style, too (Bornstein 2007, p. 21).
Herbert, Bob. “Hiding From Reality.” They Say I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Graff, Gerald. Birkenstein, Cathy. New York. London: 2012. 566.
Nathan, R. (2005). My freshman year: what a professor learned by becoming a student. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Tapper T and Palfreyman D (2010) The Collegial Tradition in Higher Education in The Collegial Tradition in the Age of Mass Higher Education by Springer in United Kingdom
Grading tends to demotivate the less able and stops them from achieving academic success. The author clearly points out that a “grade” creates competition which he considers negative. To emphasize his point of view about the unimportance of grades in the system scholar, he declares, “In spite of the staggering amount of incontrovertible evidence that grading not only does not accomplish its purpose, but in realty inhibits and injures the educative process, we obstinately continue with this perverted practice.” (Arthur , p. 3) The elimination of grades cannot be completely substituted but institutions should just “QUIT” grading and instead use alternatives such as written reports that give in-depth information on a student’s performance.
The argument on the debate on whether or not the academic grading system is fair or not, isn’t something that is discussed too often. We have come to accept that the current grading system is the norm and that it is something that is unchangeable. To question the fairness of grading in this debate, isn’t on how it was adopted, but rather on how much of a student’s progress is up for interpretation. With varying opinions from Professors, it makes it difficult to set a standard of work across the board. The need for a grading system is understandable, even necessary to be able to mark the performance of students, especially in higher education. A student’s knowledge is pivotal in obtaining employment and becoming
Nathan, R. (2005). My freshman year: What a professor learned by becoming a student. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.