Titles Without Merit
Titles Without Merit

Author: Francis Machingura

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-05-29

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1666963410

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This book examines the controversial issues surrounding the desire for titles (both earned and unearned) in Zimbabwe and beyond. The desire for titles is often associated with the quest for status, power, class, and recognition. Unfortunately, this desire has resulted in “faking” and the problem of distinguishing genuine PhDs from fake ones. The unscrupulous quest for fake degrees is referred to in this book as “Titlemania” or “Taitolomania.” The scramble for titles has not spared community leaders across the divide. Of concern is the failure of higher education students to use their earned titles to contribute to the search for solutions to societal problems through national technological development. The perspectives of the contributors in this volume provoke debates on the value of doctorates in Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular, considering that most PhD holders are not using their degrees to contribute to national development, production of goods and services, and the improvement of societal conditions.

Without Merit
Without Merit

Author: Colleen Hoover

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1501170635

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From Colleen Hoover, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and It Ends with Us, comes a moving and haunting novel of family, love, and the power of the truth. Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness. The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit. Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix. Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves. Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.

Silent Song
Silent Song

Author: Jaci Wheeler

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-11

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 9781977657763

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*Barrett* I'm Deaf. What most people view as a disadvantage, I see as an advantage. I feel my way through life in my 1969 Ford Fairlane. The vibrations and speed sustain me, the race track is where I dominate. I thought racing was all I needed to survive...but I was wrong. *Presley* Music is my life. I inhale the melody and breathe in the lyrics. That was until I met someone that opened my eyes to a new culture. Who knew all it would take was silence for me to really experience music. When Silence and sound collide it creates an explosion of the senses.

Misconceiving Merit
Misconceiving Merit

Author: Mary Blair-Loy

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-06-16

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0226820149

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An incisive study showing how cultural ideas of merit in academic science produce unfair and unequal outcomes. In Misconceiving Merit, sociologists Mary Blair-Loy and Erin A. Cech uncover the cultural foundations of a paradox. On one hand, academic science, engineering, and math revere meritocracy, a system that recognizes and rewards those with the greatest talent and dedication. At the same time, women and some racial and sexual minorities remain underrepresented and often feel unwelcome and devalued in STEM. How can academic science, which so highly values meritocracy and objectivity, produce these unequal outcomes? Blair-Loy and Cech studied more than five hundred STEM professors at a top research university to reveal how unequal and unfair outcomes can emerge alongside commitments to objectivity and excellence. The authors find that academic STEM harbors dominant cultural beliefs that not only perpetuate the mistreatment of scientists from underrepresented groups but hinder innovation. Underrepresented groups are often seen as less fully embodying merit compared to equally productive white and Asian heterosexual men, and the negative consequences of this misjudgment persist regardless of professors’ actual academic productivity. Misconceiving Merit is filled with insights for higher education administrators working toward greater equity as well as for scientists and engineers striving to change entrenched patterns of inequality in STEM.