For years, critics have pointed to flaws in the reliability of RateMyProfessors, which remains popular with many students. As far back as 2006, for example, a study found that students gave the highest ratings to professors seen as easy graders or good-looking. But a new study raises the possibility that students are not equal opportunity in what they write in their anonymous reviews. And while those reviews may not be used officially, they can easily reflect what students write on their official evaluations of faculty members. The new study, published in PLOS ONE, found that students were two to three times more likely to use the words "brilliant" or "genius" to describe male professors as they were to describe female professors. Further, the study found that the professors most likely to be called one of those terms were in disciplines -- such as physics and philosophy -- with relatively few female or black professors.

March 4, 2016 ・ From Inside Higher Ed