Posted on 01/28/2008 11:03:51 AM PST by bs9021
Striking Out
by: Bethany Stotts, January 28, 2008
The popular online professor ratings site, ratemyprofessors.com, has been eliciting some fiery responses to what professors see as the accountability-undermining anonymity of online technology. The subsidiary mtvU of MTV Networks, owner of ratemyprofessors.com, hosts the “Professors Strike Back” series in which professors “rebut” the anonymous and often insulting comments left on the ratings website. A 24-hour channel, mtvU broadcasts to 750 campuses and over 7.5 million students.
Throughout the series, many professors decried the ratings website as promoting non-constructive venting which often occurs in the heat of the moment and reflects the difficulty of the course rather than professors’ pedagogical ability. “The worst thing about ratemyprofessors.com is that there is no quality control and any disgruntled student can go there and say whatever he or she pleases,” said Boston University Professor Sassan Tabatabai. He also argued that the “the type of student who leave negative remarks about the professors on ratemyprofessors.com are the real s— heads.”....
A common thread among the responses was that ratemyprofessors.com contains biased and untrue statements made by immature and unaccountable students, yet the submitted videos themselves display a lot of unprofessional behavior. The show features angry professors swearing, wearing bunny suits for humorous effect, sarcasm, and egotism...
Teaching Assistant Joshua Beall of Rutgers University at New Brunswick (RUNB) was accused of being condescending toward students. He responded “I’m condescending? Well of course I’m condescending. You’re only an undergraduate.” He said that students “transition into an adult by taking on [their] professors and beating them.”..
Some professors seemed to think that ridiculing students for stupid answers or for inadequate performance is acceptable professional behavior....
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...
"any who" these are catch words that describe most students. And most patients. It's one thing to get a second opinion from another doctor. It's quite another to judge whether your doctor knows his stuff based on whether he's giving you euthromycin or ampecillin.
As I say, my evals are at the very top of the department---I've never gotten a perfect, although a couple of my colleagues have, but I've come close. But it does contribute to the mentality that "you are here to serve me," as opposed to, "I am here to learn from you."
This, then, results in curriculum that have certain structures (won't bore you with details) which result in the fact that we only teach U.S. Civil War once a year in the SUMMER, never during the regular school year; and haven't taught the "Age of Jefferson/Jackson" in 10 years.
Was he complaining about students? It sounded as if he were critiquing the tenure system.
On the ratemyprofessor thing. Anytime you put yourself in a position where your actions affect the lives of others, they're going to evaluate you on it. Every student I've ever had knows how to run an academy better than I do. Just ask them. If you can't deal with people criticizing you, find a nice safe job where nothing you do matters. Oh, and also, if you keep getting the same criticism, it's probably right. We don't fool these kids. We're like cellophane. They see right through us. (end rant)
Still, if I were to take a U.S. Civil War course, as a student I could certainly tell if I was being taught about the Civil War or if the teacher had hared off into European Colonial African history and slave trade with occasional references to the Emancipation Proclamation.
I may come away with world history knowledge of the mid-19th century that would serve me later, but did I really learn about the U.S. Civil War? Did the teacher serve the need that I paid for? Yes, I am here to learn, but I am here to learn what I was told you'd teach.
It is the nature of a technical service industry that you are paying for the expertise of a professional, but you wouldn't seek that professional out if you didn't have a specific need to be filled. If a professional insists that your needs are secondary to what he wants to provide, then you are just going to end up with your needs unsatisfied. At some point, you are going to decide that the professional simply isn't providing the service advertised.
You stated my take more eloquently than I did. Well said.
P.S. A one armed man? Do you really expect anyone to believe that story?
I took an art history class and the anonymous ratings for the prof were inaccurate. For example, many marked "dates for exams were unclear." Yet we had a handout stating the dates and they were also announced in class. Also, more student responses were recorded than were enrolled in class. The teacher was relatively conservative and this apparently did sit well with some.
It’s a tough sell to Republicans, but the Democrats all believe me.
Accuracy In Academia caused quite a stir by setting up something similar a few years ago. I'm thinking "the lady doth protest too much."
Well, I disagree with you on both points.
A student worth his or her salt isn’t just listening to the Professor, or reading the associated text book either. That’s what “learning” is all about. They should be reading other sources other than the books that are recommended by the course as well. I suppose that most people are lazy and do not.
However, most people do go to courses with the idea they are going to learn something new to them, about the subject, in depth, and students certainly CAN tell you if a teacher is being lazy about teaching. (Having been an instructor myself for several years at the college level, and going to courses myself at various degree levels, I can tell you for a FACT when a Prof is being lazy).
VERY occasionally, I have run into something where a teacher was, as you said, dead on and I was wrong. I found that out myself by doing the extra legwork. That also means however, you can discover when a prof is NOT DEAD ON and wrong.
But, the evaluations are not on the material usually, but rather how the teacher interacted with the class, how the material was presented, and to what level the student “felt” he/she learned something.
Oh, and for the record, a Doctor DOES NOT ALWAYS KNOW BEST... it’s my body and I have full veto powers over anyone else, including doctors. Sorry - I don’t give someone “rule over my body” because they have a degree and neither should you. I wouldn’t probably tell a doctor he was an idiot, and then let him prescribe anything.
And no, there are times when your body or not, you would be clueless as to what is affecting you. "House" makes this point, bluntly, but effectively.
It doesn’t matter whether I know what is or isn’t affecting my body. My point is that it’s my body, and just because of that I wouldn’t give a doctor carte blanc to do whatever he/she wished.
That’s not the point.
Professors aren’t “any smarter” than you or I, or the students. They may know more about a particular set of subjects (and I’m sure there are plenty of students that haven’t a clue about the subjects, and in some cases, still do NOT even after they have passed a class).
The POINT is, there isn’t a reason NOT to have evaluations., and I think they are a good thing. They keep professors HONEST - and you can always throw out the extremes from ANY evaluation.
You may get glowing reports and something saying the worst that can be said in the same group, about any particular Prof... throw those out and take the average.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.