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[dark_globe]

Chill out.  RMP has no integrity, so add as many ratings as you want.  Indeed, I think academics should do what they can to undermine RMP in subversive actions. 

I thought of putting in comments like "he really made me understand physics" for a literature teacher or "for the first time I really appreciated Renaissance art thanks to this prof" for a chem teacher, and so on.

[spirosdarlotts]

Just an idea: ratemystudents.com.  Can you imagine the reaction?  Can you imagine how hurtful ... but wait a minute, that's just what's being done to profs.

There's an interesting academic blog called Rate Your Students http://rateyourstudents.blogspot.com, but it's mostly a forum for academics to complain about students. All anonymous it seems. Some funny stuff, but they take themselves too seriously from time to time.

[au_fait]

Just an idea: ratemystudents.com.  Can you imagine the reaction?  Can you imagine how hurtful ... but wait a minute, that's just what's being done to profs.

There's an interesting academic blog called Rate Your Students http://rateyourstudents.blogspot.com, but it's mostly a forum for academics to complain about students. All anonymous it seems. Some funny stuff, but they take themselves too seriously from time to time.

Way to seriously!! OMG! However, it tempts me to be "serious" in response. E.G. pointing out that they use "that" instead of "who" to refer to people... as Online Collegian's reporters do (follow the links that pass judgment on RYS--interestingly enough, it's much like "most" undergraduates! They already know everything, and because we try to teach them something, we're limiting their creativity!).

[alonelylovebug]

I am a very active student, and I do the very best I can in all my classes. Granted there are many students who do not, who are horrible in class, who talk during lectures, and who do not do the required assignments. However, the idea of "rate my students.com" is ridiculous for one key reason: It is us who put the food on your table. It is us who choose and register for the class. At my school we pay over $700 for a course. We reserve the right to scope out teachers and find out if we're about to enter a semester of hell or not. We also reserve the right to cry about it if we encounter teachers who are unfair, prejudiced or biased. As a female in many a male's classes, I have recieved countless Fs on papers that I knew I studied for and worked my ass off for. I retook the class with someone else and made an A. Clearly there is a discrepancy. Some teachers pick favorites, whether they realize it or not. As a handicapped person who looks different than everyone else, many a day I have sat there with my hadn raised and watched as everyone else got called on and I was always last or not at all. I don't think rating yourself is a good idea. Either ignore it, read what they say and try to accomodate in some way, or at least be aware that you may be alienating some kids unknowingly. The ones who write on these boards go to class and feel like their voices are not heard. They get cut off, or pushed aside after class in the teacher's rush to get to the next class. Some students are not comfortable with confrontation, and would rather just drop the class, and spread the word so other students don't "make the same mistake". I see equal amounts of positive and negative reactions. Maybe the key to the problem with ratemyprofesors.com is to post the student's prospective grade next to their review. Personally, I don't think there needs to be a solution to the "problem" you are discussing. As a part of a elite student lobby group for the state I live in, I strongly believe that my being a member who pays over $700 for a class I dang well oughta have a right to voice discomfort. Like someone already said, those stupid student reports that we fill out at the end of the semester don't do a dang bit of good. They are just glanced over and discarded, on the way to getting the teacher tenure or whatever they are in line for. Those who need a rate mystudents.com site are in the business for the wrong reasons. If you truly care about your students you will want to know what they are saying and you will want to know how you can improve your method of reaching out to them. Students put food on your table along with your research activities. If you can't take the punches with the rolls, find another job where you don't have to worry about hearing from people who paid good money to get a semester of hell and possibly a ruined GPA. Thank you.

[octoprof]

Voice discomfort?  How about the discomfort that reading an unintelligible 545 word paragraph causes to professors who work hard to help students write well?

You do have a right to "voice discomfort."  The way to do that is to talk to your professor. If that doesn't solve the problem, then you talk to the dept head. If that doesn't solve the problem, then you talk to the dean.  There is a proper way to deal with problems. Throwing a complaint on a billboard doesn't solve any problem in this context.

[magistra]

Nor does mentioning three times how much you paid for a course.  That does NOT mean you get to buy the grade you want!

Most schools do take evals seriously, and they take student concerns seriously -- certainly they take discrimination seriously.  There are appeals and other processes for just these concerns.  If you think you've been discriminated against or regularly anticipate "semester from hell", you need to change schools or consider that the problem isn't the profs, it's you.

[crazybatlady]

I got as far as "It is us who" and then I quit, figuring that a rambling ungrammatical paragraph like that can't get any better.

cbl

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

The best part is that the lonely love bug holds the notion that student tuition is actually "putting food on the table" and funding research activities for professors. If this student is truly a member of that elite lobby group, she has a great deal to learn about how schools are funded.

Sheesh. I hate to be at one of those elite student lobby group meetings!

[neutralname]

Do you think it's a real student, or someone pretending to be one in order to get a rise from the profs?  I too could not get past the first few sentences of that long paragraph, and I wonder whether such thoroughness in being unreadable could be a real student.  Real students normally finish quickly.

[dismal_sci]

I have recieved countless Fs on papers that I knew I studied for and worked my ass off for. I retook the class with someone else and made an A. .

Lonelylovebug,

Now that we've seen your F writing, maybe you could show us the A version now.

[voxprincipalis]

You are welcome to make any complaints you want -- in a professional manner in which you sign your real name to your complaints and are held accountable for your words (including allegations of defamation).

I'm so sorry that "some students are not comfortable with confrontation." Since when does not being comfortable with something require other people to bend over backwards to accommodate that discomfort? I am not comfortable with stopping at red lights, and I'm sure that the police officer will understand when I explain it to him or her after I get pulled over.

Additionally, there is often the idea that "having one's voice heard" means "change things so they are the way I want". These two ideas are not the same.

VP

[babbit]

I am not comfortable with stopping at red lights, and I'm sure that the police officer will understand when I explain it to him or her after I get pulled over.

Especially since your taxes put food on his table.

[bookishone]

"If you can't take the punches with the rolls" ????

Is that meant to be "roll with the punches"?

[mirandaf]

"If you can't take the punches with the rolls" ????

Is that meant to be "roll with the punches"?

I like punches, and punch (fruity), with my rolls. Particularly when they're buttered and fresh from the oven.

[conjugate]

"If you can't take the punches with the rolls" ????

Is that meant to be "roll with the punches"?

I like punches, and punch (fruity), with my rolls. Particularly when they're buttered and fresh from the oven.

Okay, I saw this as a bread-making analogy.  See, a "punch" is a form of battery (not assault; technically, that's the offer to do bodily harm, where battery is actually, well, battering).  Now, some kinds of breads are made from batter rather than dough, and rolls are made from dough instead of batter.  Your use of "buttery" suggests that the whole thing was a typo.