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The Catch-22 in the modern American university system is that professors are judged by their customers. In almost all other cases this is a good thing, as the customer is in the best position to judge the quality of goods and services purchased from a vendor. In education, however, students want As, whether they deserve them or not. The evals a professor gets often tracks the grade distribution pretty closely. As a result, professors who hand out As are rewarded (with tenure and promotion) for keeping the customers happy. This provides a dis-incentive for professors to hold a student’s feet to the fire.

A better way would be to:
1. Factor in evaluations of employers who hire graduates. Are they happy with them? Do they continually come back to the school to hire?
2. Have the graduates fill out survey at every year after they graduate (for 5 consecutive years) to rate a professor. Often a “hard”, but effective professor is better appreciated years later than during the actual class.

Both of the above are problematic, however, as they don’t provide the timely feedback needed for personnel decisions. Likewise, peer evaluation (from the same Dept) is often useless.

And, yes, I am a college professor too.

Customer evaluations are not always the best way to evaluate performance.

For instance, I have a friend who is a home inspector. Most of his business comes from referrals from realtors. Lots of pressure to downplay any issues found so as not to impede a sale.

I can guarantee you the home inspectors who would get the highest marks from realtors are those who don’t properly report problems.

In actual fact, the HI’s client is technically the prospective purchaser, and they might rate him highly for being strict. But repeat business comes from the real estate guys.

“professors are judged by their customers”

I would entirely do away with student evaluations unless it was for the teacher’s or professor’s eyes only.

Lazy lib schools letting biased or vindictive students evaluate their personnel is a travesty, particularly if it affects one’s income and promotion.

If there is a problem with a teacher, the student can discuss it with the teacher, principal, or dean.

Too many companies, schools and government agencies are buying into the diploma-rama. UNTIL they hold students to account for actually proving what they supposedly have learned, students in colleges will still be demanding the right to cheat, to cajole, to use sexual and other personal favors, to get better grades.

[A] new analysis finding that the most common grade at four-year colleges and universities is the A (43 percent of all grades) -- and that Ds and Fs are few and far between. -- "Easy A", Inside Higher Ed, July 14, 2011

And ... UNTIL we drop the super easy money polices, the DC-Centric-Socialisms, the intensely Politically-Correct inculcation of Human Relations people and the neo-Fascists oligarchy that runs big enterprises, then we shall continue to have huge demand for the most socially-engineered of new hires, That demand will continue for the most trained in the skills of getting ahead by any social means including cheating, intimidation and bribes. The social adept will rule.

And the group that becomes the untouchable class? The ones who drop out of college in despair? The ones with many grades of C or less?

The engineers. The technologists. The mathematicians. The true scientists. The honest accountants, the honest lawyers. The true students of History and Humanities. All those passionate for a true education and real learning. All those who are too quirky or individualistic to navigate the permanent Junior High culture of a society where promotion and success depend solely on being both high socially functioning and also immaturely amoral.