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Volume CXXXII, Number 14 |
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Ratemyprofessors.com: how the tides have changed
EVAN KOHN
ORIENT STAFF
Want to secretly flatter a teacher you find sexy? Better, let the world know that a certain professor was not as helpful in explaining, say, supply and demand curves or Sartre's existential philosophies, as one would hope.
Ratemyprofessors.com offers college students nationwide the opportunity to publicly denounce or praise their educators rather subjectively in an entirely anonymous fashion. True, students increasingly have the opportunity to turn the tables on their professors and rate them, whether through end-of-semester evaluations or writing letters for professors up for tenure or three year review. Once submitted, however, such assessments become confidential.
Thus, when the dilemma emerges of whether to take, for example, "Abnormal Personality" with Professor Held or "History of Shamanism in East Asia" with Professor Smith, students must merely rely on word of mouth and anecdotes to contemplate the choice. Now, the World Wide Web has, surprisingly of course, opened another forum for dialogue about what many students consider a key factor in their college careers.
"There is definitely a positive correlation between course satisfaction and the quality of the professor. While I like the idea of having the opportunity to exchange such information, I don't like the questions the website asks," said Joanie Taylor '03.
The website asks participants to rate their professors on a scale of one to five, five being the highest, in five categories: easiness, helpfulness, clarity, sexiness, and overall quality. Professors who have received high sexiness ratings, receive a chili pepper graphic next to their name, while smiley faces and frowning faces denote different quality ratings. Students at a NESCAC school submitted more ratings yesterday than any other in the country - Tufts University. The average number of professors rated per school is 47. As of today, 2,401 colleges or universities have had their professors rated on the website, 497, 233 total ratings of 113, 719 professors - with 50 representing a particular liberal arts college in Brunswick, ME today. Most are positive.
Perhaps what keeps the site from getting even more attention is the credibility of the ratings. For a site that has a link to the "Funniest Ratings" in the "comments" section, one must question the true purpose of the website: to mock professors in a trivial manner or distinguish their truly noteworthy aspects? Some comments in the rating include "She hates you already," "BORING! But, I learned there are 137 tiles on the ceiling," "If I was tested on her family, I would get an A," and "teaches well, invites questions, and then insults you for 20 minutes," and "your pillow may need a pillow." Thus, if a professor has only one rating, perhaps you might not want to take it too seriously. Yet, if consistency exists among a dozen or so, making a note to self could facilitate one's decision process during the next course registration period.
According to the site, it is the internet's largest listing of college professor ratings. A statistician would likely point out that the site revolves around a survey that is volunteer-based and may over represent the extremes.
Seventeen declares it a "featured website for college survival," and other websites have emerged on the net as a result of its popularity, including grademyprofs.com. Some may use it to get back at a professor for an unwarranted mark, or to reward a one who went out of their way to stimulate the learning experience. For some, it may just be another website, but others believe the site has potential in easing the sometimes stressful decision-making process during course registration period.
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