The link is equitability

Abstract

On the one hand is a hue and cry for college teaching to be evaluated for its effectiveness. Professors are to be held accountable for the learning or lack of it that takes place in their classrooms. There are charges telling us how to evaluate (Miller, 1972; Hildebrand and Wilson, 1970), how to create an interplay of mind on mind (Eble, 1972), how to challenge and change the patterns of the graduate schools in order to enhance the teaching function (Heiss, 1970; Spurr, 1970), and how to comport ourselves effectively (Lee, 1970). To deny the importance of studies like these is to deny the timelessness of effective college teaching. On the other hand is an array of research studies demonstrating that professors who teach are significantly different. They interact with students differently (Thistlethwaite and Wheeler, 1966; Gamson, 1967). They are rewarded differently in terms of promotion and merit raises (Hoyt, 1970). They demonstrate different career and productivity patterns (Blackburn, 1972; Lehman, 1953). But, most important of all, teaching faculty are different in terms of the subject matter they teach (Brown, 1967; Peters, 1969). To deny the importance of these studies is to deny that human beings have value because they are uniquely individuals even in groups. Why is it that almost no studies attempt to link up the clamor for effective teaching with those groups of teachers in the diverse academic orientations? The time has come to make this connection because there is a persistent and invidious danger in talking about the professoriate as if all its members were the same (Blackburn, 1971). They are not. To insist on their sameness leads to untoward generalizations.