LA Johnson/NPR
Picture your favorite college professor. Here are some adjectives that might come to mind: Wise. Funny. Caring. Prompt. Passionate. Organized. Tough but fair.
Now, are you thinking of a man or a woman?
A new study argues that student evaluations are systematically biased against women — so much so, in fact, that they're better mirrors of gender bias than of what they are supposed to be measuring: teaching quality.
Anne Boring, an economist and the lead author of the paper, was hired by her university in Paris, Sciences Po, to conduct quantitative analysis of gender bias. Through her conversations with instructors and students, she became suspicious of what she calls "double standards" applying to male and female instructors.
Philip Stark, associate dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, is a co-author of the paper along with Kellie Ottoboni. Stark has a longstanding research interest in — some might say a vendetta against — course evaluations. We've reported on his work previously.
In this paper, the team ran a series of statistical tests on two different data sets, of French and U.S. university students.
The French students were, in effect, randomly assigned to either male or female section leaders in a wide range of required courses. In this case, the study authors found, male French students rated male instructors more highly across the board.
Is it bias? Or were the male instructors, maybe, actually, on average, better teachers? (It's science; we have to ask the uncomfortable questions.)
Well, turns out that, at this university, all students across all sections of a course take the same, anonymously graded final exam, regardless of which instructor they have.
This offers the chance to look at one dimension of actual instructor quality: Presumably better section leaders would help students get better grades on the same exam. In fact, they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final.
Overall, there was no correlation between students rating their instructors more highly and those students actually learning more.
The American case was a little bit different. Here, the authors performed a new analysis of a clever experiment published in 2014. Students were taking a single online class with either a male or female instructor. In half the cases, the instructors agreed to dress in virtual drag: The men used the women's names and vice versa.
Here, it was the female students, not the males, who rated the instructors they believed to be male more highly across the board. That's right: The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula.
And that higher rating even applied to a seemingly objective question: Did this teacher return assignments on time? (The online system made it possible to ensure that promptness was identical in every case.)
The paper is one more depressing entry in the growing scientific literaturedocumenting how racial, gender and other forms of bias play out in and around the classroom.
What to make of the fact that the bias was wielded primarily by men in France and by women in the U.S.?
"That the situation is Really Complicated," Philip Stark writes in an email to NPR Ed, and, he adds, it won't be easy to correct for it. In fact, the authors titled their paper "Student Evaluations of Teaching (Mostly) Do Not Measure Teaching Effectiveness."
These results seem pretty damning, but not everyone is convinced.
Michael Grant is the vice provost and associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He says there's a lot of research supporting the effectiveness and usefulness of student evaluations.
"There are multiple, well-designed, thoughtfully conducted studies that clearly contradict this very weakly designed study," he says, citing this study from 2000 andthis study conducted at his own university. His personal review of student ratings from one department at CU Boulder over nine years did find a bias in favor of men, he says, but it was very small — averaging 0.13 on a 6-point scale.
At Sciences Po, educators are taking steps to try to reduce gender bias in end-of-course evaluations, beginning with informing students about that bias. However, both Boring and Stark seem ready to write off Student Evaluations of Teaching, or SET, as pretty much useless.
"Trying to adjust for the bias to make SET 'fair' is hopeless," says Stark, "(even if they measured effectiveness, and there's lots of evidence that they don't)."
Boring acknowledges that "SETs can contain some information that can be valuable." But, she adds, they are too biased to be used in a high-stakes way as a measure of teacher effectiveness.
I believe all professors should get paid the same, not based on their gender. They should be paying the professors “measured on their teaching quality”(NPR). Personally I am not convinced that a gender of a professor or teacher will show who would be better at teaching.
ReplyDeleteMegan Welter Per.2
All professors should be given the same amount of money. They are all doing their jobs and half of the time all teachers are teaching or will teach the same thing. This shows of how the professors are being payed, this is pure sexiest not only to the professors but everyone around them.
ReplyDeleteAlayna Texley Per.2
Although this is sexist I fell like its the way his/her teacher teaches. If the teacher is always monotone then it unlikely that the students will learn a thing but on the other hand if the teacher is energetic and happy to teacher his/her students then the students are more likely to learn and do better on testes.
ReplyDeleteI believe all professors should get equal pay, no matter what gender. Both male and female professors are doing the same jobs, while even some female professors could be doing more work than the males. Gender should not play a role in the amount of money earned. Paychecks should be based on what they are "supposed to be measuring: teaching quality" (NPR). Just as studies show, gender doesn't affect the quality of work. Male teachers do not always teach as well and female teachers do and vice-versa. What matters is the quality of the work that the professors produce, because you get payed for the work you put in.
ReplyDeleteOlivia Lasecke period 2
The fact that women don't get paid as much as men for doing the exact same job is completely sexist. This is not only true with the education system, but with all other jobs too. I'm not sure why men get paid more than women or where that idea originated, but it doesn't make sense. It says in the article that "The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula." I don't completely understand why this is, but I think it has to do with the flawed society we live in. In my experiences, the majority of the best teachers I've ever had have been women. Men should not get paid more than women, and women shouldn't be paid more than men. I'm ok with someone making more money than someone else for doing the same job, as long as it is due to the quality of work, and gender isn't considered.
ReplyDeletePeriod 2 ^^^^^^^^
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers should be paid the same. Have you ever thought that there are many female teachers according to data.worldbank.org there 87 percent of teachers in 1999-2005 that is a lot of female teachers now that means male teachers are more rare and people like things that are more unique. A 1969 Camaro that is a Z/28 goes for so much more than a standard Camaro even if they both do not run because the Z/28 is so much more rare and unique. I would say male teachers act different than female teachers and maybe people think that is new and unique and gives them refresher.
ReplyDeleteI think that all teachers should be paid the same no matter their gender. They are all doing their jobs and if they are all teaching the same thing, then why should women be paid less? I agree that teachers should be payed by how well they actually teach. It is interesting that "In fact, they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(NPR). I think how people like a teacher depends on their personality and teaching style, not gender.
ReplyDeleteI think that all teachers should be paid the same no matter their gender. They are all doing their jobs and if they are all teaching the same thing, then why should women be paid less? I agree that teachers should be payed by how well they actually teach. It is interesting that "In fact, they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(NPR). I think how people like a teacher depends on their personality and teaching style, not gender.
ReplyDeleteAll teachers and professors should be paid the same, and that's a fact. The gender bias has come a long way in recent years, for more attention is being brought to the severe differences in the way different genders are treated. However, a lot of progress still needs to be made. Although "it won't be easy to correct for it", it is a cause that needs to be tended to immediately. Gender should never define the amount of money you get for working and taking time out of busy lives. Also, many people base the teacher off of how they are as a person as opposed to how they act as a teacher. We should consider the learning experience that we are all going through as opposed to the teachers personality. However, if a teacher has a great personality, it makes the learning experience much better overall.
ReplyDeleteGina Tarry Period 4
Thats crazy that theres a bias against female teachers. Maybe it could be because the male teachers are more relaxed, or what people would say "more fun" than serious about education? "the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(npr) that just proves the males are less efficient in teaching. I think people value fun teachers over teachers who actually teach, which is sad. Its disappointed theres still gender biases in the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteNo professor should be paid differently based on gender. It is not fair to pay men more than women just based on their sex. "In fact, they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(NPR). This quote shows people that women should not be underrated in the education system. However, it does not mean that male professors are any worse than women.
ReplyDeleteThe gender bias between men and women have been brought to attention recently, but we still have a long way to go. People should get paid the same amount of money for the same job, despite their gender. "The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula." I thought this was interesting because I don't understand why people did this. Gender should not be considered when getting paid. Everyone should be paid the same for the same job.
ReplyDeleteThe world, whether one likes it or not, will always in some way be sexist without even noticing. The world will be sexist against both men and women. The fact that someone's gender is going to affect how well they do their job is a complete myth and it is nothing but the students being a bit sexist. Men and women should one hundred percent be paid for doing the same job especially of they're a good at it. To evaluate someone lesser because of their gender is morally wrong. In the article it says, "The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula." which shows exactly how biased people can be when they critique the exact same teacher with the exact same lesson.
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
I think all professors should earn the same money. Regardless of gender, men and women are both teaching the same. The amount of money someone earns should not have anything to do with their gender. It depends on their ability to teach well.
ReplyDeleteHannah Miller, P2
I think the fact that women get paid less in the first place is ridiculous. The amount of pay for teachers should be based on whether or not a teacher is doing their job. Both male and female teachers teach the same material and put in the same amount of work. In that case, why would women not be rewarded the same as men. In some cases, "...they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(NPR). Clearly, this shows that men are no better teachers that women, so what else could the unequal pay be due to?
ReplyDeleteMorgan Siegel p.2
I think that it is unfair to have unequal pain based on gender. The men and the women are all teaching the same subject and I believe that they should be paid due to how well they teach. On an anonymous final exam for the same subject "they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse" (NPR). The male professors get paid worse even though it was proven that their students were not doing as good as others. There should be equal pay between all professors.
ReplyDeleteKaci Pebley Per. 2
Over the years there has been changes to make women and men equality, but It's 2016 and yet we don't have gender equality. It is not right that women are getting paid less when they are doing the same exact thing as men. I don't understand why men are getting paid more.The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula (NPR). This shows how we don't have gender equality. The gender of someone does not define how good they are at their job. Women and men need to have equal rights.
ReplyDelete- Sheila Ordukhani per 2
I think it depends on the teacher, not the gender. When I think of past teachers that I have had, and liked, I do not make gender a reason. I simply like a teacher based on their personality, and their effectiveness as a teacher. I do agree with the quote, "Trying to adjust for the bias to make SET 'fair' is hopeless," (Philip Stark) I feel that we shouldn't exert our energy on this problem. People like what they like. You can't tell a person to like something, and not like another. There are many other issues in our world that I believe we should focus our time on.
ReplyDeleteMen and women should all be paid equally. It should not depend on the gender. This shows that we need more equality. It does not make sense that women are getting paid less when they are doing the same exact work as men. I believe that all professors should be payed equally.
ReplyDeleteRichard Hull Period 2
Teachers shouldn't be payed differently based on their gender. Everyone should be paid equally because we can't change it. In this quote from the article, "In fact, they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(NPR). I disagree with this unless they ave done multiple experiments this one may just be a coincidence. I believe no matter what your gender is you should get paid the same as the other gender teacher. But I do agree on getting paid on how you teach. Because the other teacher who isn't doing anything for their students shouldn't get paid the same as the one has a passion for teaching and really does care about their students.
ReplyDeleteMaggie Couch 4
While reading this article, I found it very disturbing that they never provided any statistics for their studies/tests.My suspicions were correct when I read this quote, "His personal review of student ratings from one department at CU Boulder over nine years did find a bias in favor of men, he says, but it was very small — averaging 0.13 on a 6-point scale."(Why Female...). And then my theory that this was just a silly experiment trying to justify something pointless was also proven correct, "However, both Boring and Stark seem ready to write off Student Evaluations of Teaching, or SET, as pretty much useless.
ReplyDelete"(Why Female...). I'm slightly confused about the point of some of these comments also, it never mentions wages, so why are people discussing them?
While reading this article, I found it very disturbing that they never provided any statistics for their studies/tests.My suspicions were correct when I read this quote, "His personal review of student ratings from one department at CU Boulder over nine years did find a bias in favor of men, he says, but it was very small — averaging 0.13 on a 6-point scale."(Why Female...). And then my theory that this was just a silly experiment trying to justify something pointless was also proven correct, "However, both Boring and Stark seem ready to write off Student Evaluations of Teaching, or SET, as pretty much useless.
ReplyDelete"(Why Female...). I'm slightly confused about the point of some of these comments also, it never mentions wages, so why are people discussing them?
Men and Women should be paid equal no matter what job or profession they are in. gender should not determine pay because at the end of the day we are all human. If someone has more passion towards the job they are doing then maybe they should be paid more than someone that is just their to make money. It is like students in a class, if you do your work you will end up with a better grade than someone that doesn't do their homework. gender should not determine how much money you are making no matter where you work. P.2
ReplyDeleteI think it's a big issue that students are biased to teachers based on genders. When I think of mt top favorite teachers, there are male and female teachers. I don't understand how a teacher or professor's gender could alter how people think of their teaching skills. ESPECIALLY when they did the study where the two teachers, one female and one male, did the exact same class, and "The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula" (NPR). It's as if people see women as less qualified to teach. Almost all elementary school educators are female, and they are responsible for setting up children for the rest of their educational careers. I would say they do an amazing job. It's crazy that male teachers are favored over female teachers for no reason whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteA good teacher is a good teacher, regardless of their gender. It is as simple as that. There should be no wage gap in pay now a days between men and women but of course even though it is 2016, there still is a wage gap. Highly annoying and disappointing. - Sabrina Shaw Per. 4
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge surprise to me that male teachers earn more than female. I always thought that teachers were paid the same no matter what. It makes me sad that women have fought so hard in the past for equal rights and males and females are still not treated equal today. In the article titled "Why Female Proffessors Get Lower Ratings," NPR informers the readers of sexism with paying jobs. It does not make sense to me why "the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final," (NPR para. 10). If female teachers are teaching the same (or better) than male teachers, why are they making less? It just shows that there is still sexism in our society today.
ReplyDeleteFaith Rosenberry
Period 6
I actually didn't know that female teachers were payed less than mal teachers . I always thought the pay was equal for that job. Maybe this is just a dumb experiment made by sexists because I never saw any statistics. My theory is backed because it says, "However, both Boring and Stark seem ready to write off Student Evaluations of Teaching, or set, as pretty much useless" (Why female...). I do believe that there is still a lot of sexism in the world but this experiment was bogus.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, one thing that made me think deeply was In the beginning of the article it says "Picture your favorite college professor. Here are some adjectives that might come to mind: Wise. Funny. Caring. Prompt. Passionate. Organized. Tough but fair. Now, are you thinking of a man or a woman?" ( Why Female Professors Get Lower Ratings) I know this quote was supposed to be a hook, but it just really got to me because when I think of those adjectives, yes I thought of some people, but I never thought about their gender at first because I think the people who met this characteristics were a male and a female. Anyway I found it interesting about the tests they did between U.S. and French university students, and how they tested the groups differently. Which made me wonder why did they do that, although it wasn't a bad thought to do. I really liked what they tested for the U.S. university students. Overall I would have to say that in my opinion all teachers should be paid equally, they shouldn’t be paid based on their gender.
ReplyDelete- Tyra Cardenas 5th period
so many people say that the wage gap doesn't exist, but this is just one of so many examples of how it does. there is NO reason why men should be paid more than women who do just as much, if not more in some cases, work. all of this is solely based off of the disgusting amount of sexism there was in the past, from women not being able to vote, own their own property, and even act in the elizabethan era, which was all at least one hundred years ago (women's right to vote was actually one hundred years ago in 2019 but hey, i don't do math on even days). it is 2016, and we still haven't been able to move past that. america is supposed to be the land of the free, where everyone is equal, but it's really more like land of the sort of free, where all straight white men are equal (no hate to straight white men). it's honestly embarrassing to even think that i live in a country where people are treated (and paid in this case) so differently just because of something as simple as gender. if a woman is teaching the same way as a man then they should get paid the same amount of money. there is no argument to that, and this shouldn't even be a problem we're having. (period two)
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading this article it was hard for me to interpret it due to the lack of statistics and evidence. I have had a relatively equal amount of male and female teachers throughout middle school, especially high school. According to the article, they stated that, "they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final" (NPR). Throughout my classes in high school, I have received the highest grades with male teachers. Despite this, I do not have any bias to the gender of a teacher. Something that I believe would be an interesting project would be to analyze teachers' bias towards male or female students.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why women get payed less in teaching. To me this is just an evaluation if you prefer male or female teachers when the majority of the people are just going to say both. I believe that it doesn't matter the gender just the way the teacher acts or responds determines if they should be payed well or not.
ReplyDeleteTo me a good teacher can be both female or male. The way that the female professors are paid less than the male professors makes me feel sick. I think that the female professors should be paid the same as any other teachers at campus.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Matt. All professors should be treated equally if they are female or not. A female professor does the same amount of work as a man. Females should be getting paid and treated exactly the same as any other male professor.
DeleteAt any school equality should be set at a high level. By not paying female teachers as much as the male conterpart they are teaching young adults a true problem in society. I believe the male and female teachers should be paid the same and actions should be made immediately to make this possible.
ReplyDeleteI beleive that women and men should receive equal pay. I agree with the comment above that not giving equal pay, it teaches the youth a problem. There needs to be action taken to make payments equal.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the article, it says "Picture your favorite college professor. Here are some adjectives that might come to mind: Wise. Funny. Caring. Prompt. Passionate. Organized. Tough but fair. Now, are you thinking of a man or a woman?" ( Why Female Professors Get Lower Ratings). I didn't even know female teachers were payed less than male teachers. Men and Women should be paid equal no matter what job or profession they are in. Teachers shouldn't be payed differently based on their gender. I think it depends on the teacher, not the gender. It should depend on how good of a teacher they are, not whether they are male or female.
ReplyDeleteIt does not make sense to me that teachers would get paid a different amount based on their gender. Teachers should be paid equally. Gender does not matter in a sense of getting paid differently. Equality should be equal for everyone especially in a school atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteKyle Brown P.5
I believe everyone should be given equal pay regardless of gender. If two people are doing the same job, the amount of money they get should be equal. Especially for such a respected job, women should not be given any less amount of money than a man would. A female professor works to earn her money, the same as a male professor does.
ReplyDeleteAll schools should set equality as a high priority in their programs. I don´t see why it would be okay to have unequal pay amounts depending on a teachers´ gender. There should be equality among all races and genders, especially in schools. Having inequality is schools is wrong and teaches the children the wrong way.
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ReplyDeleteI think it's crazy that there is unequal pay between professors based on genders. I believe bother genders should receive the same amount of pay. When doing an anonymous test "they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse" (NPR). So I find it crazy that women teachers still receive worse pay even if they are performing better. -Sydney period 2
ReplyDeleteThis truly amazes me, the fact that people actually believe that your gender affects how you teach. they say that "The French students were, in effect, randomly assigned to either male or female section leaders in a wide range of required courses. In this case, the study authors found, male French students rated male instructors more highly across the board." Thats awful evidence, just TWO teachers? You can immediately assume that one teacher is just better at what they do, its just a coincidence. -Chaz Breshears Per.5
ReplyDeleteI think that all teachers should be paid the same no matter their gender. They are all doing their jobs and if they are all teaching the same thing, then why should women be paid less? I agree that teachers should be payed by how well they actually teach. It is interesting that "In fact, they found, the students of male instructors on average did slightly worse on the final"(NPR). I think how people like a teacher depends on their personality and teaching style, not gender.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the teachers should get paid the same not by gender. It is wrong to pay one gender more than the other. What if the female teacher has a better grade average in her class but still gets payed less than the male teacher where everyone is failing his class. They are all just trying to help us people learn so there should be paid equally. People should like their teacher by how well they teach and if they are fun not by gender.
ReplyDeleteKatrina Ayala p.1
I defiantly believe in equality, and I believe that all teachers should get paid the ska amount no matter what gender, especially since it has been proven that there is no difference in performance between male and female teachers. "Overall, there was no correlation between students rating their instructors more highly and those students actually learning more," (Why females get lower ratings). - Truman Andrus P.6
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article about equality between teachers and their salaries, I thought more about it. I believe that all teachers, male or female, no matter what pigment of skin, should not get paid the same amount of money per year. I believe that teachers, just like some companies do with their employees, should get paid the amount they deserve. I do not believe that who one is should affect his/her salary. That is wrong and is discriminatory.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Chris with what he said above. Teachers should not be paid based on their gender, race, religion, etc. How much they should be paid should be based on how well they teach and the success rate of their students. I am a true supporter in equality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the comments above. I think that there should 100 percent be equal pay, and if this isn't happening then I feel it's important to make a change so we all can get on the right track. (Ronny Henares) P.2
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion to reading this document and the comments, I remain appalled that we continue to have to have these types of conversations about why people are judged unfairly for a ridiculous multitude of reasons. The question should not be "why are people paid less based on the color of their skin or their gender?", but rather "why do so many on this planet continue to be prejudice?" Honestly, just whyyyyy?!?!?!? What's the point of all of this prejudice and injustice etc. All a society or a person is trying to do is lift it/themselves up and find some way to justify why some people are just as equal to the task or even better than whoever or whatever is being prejudice! This preposterous notion of having female workers get payed less than a male worker doesn't even remotely make sense! Here, from the article, is an excerpt that reads, "Here, it was the female students, not the males, who rated the instructors they believed to be male more highly across the board. That's right: The same instructor, with all the same comments, all the same interactions with the class, received higher ratings if he was called Paul than if she was called Paula." Ok, come on. The instructor was NAMED PAUL SO HE GOT HIGHER RATINGS?!?!? What on Earth is this nonsense! I have to end this comment before I put a hole through this computer, so I will end simply stating that there is obviously an unlimited variety throughout this world that may confuse all of at times. It may even turn us against one another, but yet, among all that variation, we have things in common. Some of the most important things. So however cheesy it may sound, we need to stop this judgement, prejudice, sexism, racism, and downright cruelty before it unravels our beloved planet.
ReplyDelete~Sydney Rose Andrews per.6
It's crazy to think that gender bias is still a problem. I view all my teachers as equals on the first day and base my opinion about them throughout the year. Maybe these statistics are based off of just random facts. It could be because there are more female teachers than males and people are just basing their opinion off of one female teacher and one male teacher. As the article states,Overall, there was no correlation between students rating their instructors more highly and those students actually learning more." So really it doesn't matter what gender you are as long as you are teaching in a correct manner.
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