Many people talk about academic excellence — but who or what really defines this elusive quality?
Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and professor of sociology and of African and African American studies, analyzes the system of peer review in her new book “How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment” (Harvard University Press, 2009). By examining the process of scholarly evaluation, she also addresses larger questions about academia.
“In some ways studying peer evaluation and review is a point of entry into a much broader issue, which is the issue of meritocracy in American higher education,” says Lamont.
To research the book, Lamont interviewed panelists from research councils and societies of fellows who were evaluating proposals for research funding in the social sciences and the humanities.
Lamont explains that academics must constantly make evaluations, whether of scientific findings or of graduate students. Expertise, personal taste, and the perspective of the evaluator play into the decision-making process, she writes.
“A lot of what the book does is to look at what criteria people use to judge and what meaning they give to these criteria,” says Lamont. “So for instance, what do they mean by ‘significance’ and what do they mean by ‘originality’? How does the definition of ‘originality’ and ‘significance’ vary between philosophy and economics? How strong is the consensus between fields?
Answer:
In 'specialization' , works tend to be divided among workers depended on their specific skill set. By doing this, the overall time needed to complete the work will become much more efficient.
For example, in lawn care business, there generally 2 main things to do.
- Get rid of unwanted debris (which require more physical power)
- Create an artistic cut to make the lawn more aesthetically pleasing (which require an art-related talent).
<u>Using the concept of specialization</u> , peter and Nicholas need to decide which one of them is the one that more prominent in one aspect of the job. After they decide it, they can focus on doing that thing alone between houses and reduce the overall time needed to complete the job.
<u>As for expanding the job to more houses,</u> the only thing they can do is to hire more workers with that specific specialization skill sets. By doing this, they can finish more lawns without having to be physically present and spend their own time.
Girls tend to establish and maintain close friendships
through compromise and verbal conflict resolution.
<span>Gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes, and activities expected or common for males and females. Research findings indicates that the friendship behaviors among girls are related to issues such as compromise and verbal conflict resolution, which explains why women talks more than men.</span>
