on peer review

[Joe Schaefer <jo...@yahoo.com>]

Back when I was a Math grad student, one day while hanging
around the chair's office the chair relayed to me a curious
story- a parent had just been into his office to complain
about the grade their student had received from one of
the professors.  The student was a high-school age kid
who was participating in the University as an Advanced
Placement student, and according to the parent, was raised
to be an A student.  The professor sadly had given the 

student a B grade for the term, and the parent considered
that an insult to his child and against how they had raised
them.  I don't remember what the chair said back, but I'm
pretty sure it was an interesting response in defense of
the professor.

Some days I think we tend to say similarly confusing things
to each other about similar situations.  In going through
these reports we will need to scrutinize each other's work
product, fairly and objectively, in the hopes that the
overall success rate for our mentoring efforts will improve
over time.  These criticisms should be met with decency
and respect, not crowing over how meddlesome it is for
someone to comment on the quality of your work.  I'd like
to someday even see mentors show enough respect and humility
for their peers in the group to seek out their counsel in
situations they have never encountered before, so that we
all can provide some input designed to help the project
continue on.

Re: on peer review

[Mohammad Nour El-Din <no...@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 5:03 PM, Joe Schaefer <jo...@yahoo.com>wrote:

> Back when I was a Math grad student, one day while hanging
> around the chair's office the chair relayed to me a curious
> story- a parent had just been into his office to complain
> about the grade their student had received from one of
> the professors.  The student was a high-school age kid
> who was participating in the University as an Advanced
> Placement student, and according to the parent, was raised
> to be an A student.  The professor sadly had given the
>
> student a B grade for the term, and the parent considered
> that an insult to his child and against how they had raised
> them.  I don't remember what the chair said back, but I'm
> pretty sure it was an interesting response in defense of
> the professor.
>
> Some days I think we tend to say similarly confusing things
> to each other about similar situations.  In going through
> these reports we will need to scrutinize each other's work
> product, fairly and objectively, in the hopes that the
> overall success rate for our mentoring efforts will improve
> over time.  These criticisms should be met with decency
> and respect, not crowing over how meddlesome it is for
> someone to comment on the quality of your work.  I'd like
> to someday even see mentors show enough respect and humility
> for their peers in the group to seek out their counsel in
> situations they have never encountered before, so that we
> all can provide some input designed to help the project
> continue on.


+1 (Agree)

-- 
Thanks
- Mohammad Nour
----
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving"
- Albert Einstein

Re: on peer review

[Greg Stein <gs...@gmail.com>]

On Jan 17, 2012 11:03 AM, "Joe Schaefer" <jo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>...
>  I'd like
> to someday even see mentors show enough respect and humility
> for their peers in the group to seek out their counsel in
> situations they have never encountered before, so that we
> all can provide some input designed to help the project
> continue on.

Well said, Joe. Peer respect and humility (aka listening) are fundamental
to healthy interactions.

Cheers,
-g