Another terrific piece by Scott. Excellent and objective.

Spiros Darlotts, at 8:10 am EST on November 2, 2006

The result of ignoring customer

A lot of institutions conducts evaluations on instructors. But very few of them make it public information. The success of these kind of rate-my-professor sites are count on the failures of institution’s responses to their customer.

Part of my view of the future learning includes pre-made lecture material, a group of tutors/advisors that provides assistant. Students study by themselves and contact assistants when needed. In this settings, the feedback of students is very important. The feedbacks don’t have to be black and white. The feedback can actually reflect an assistant’s personal styles and can be particular helpful to certain kinds of students. Institutions and instructors shouldn’t see the feedback as a negative things.

With diverse learning behaviors, we need diverse teaching styles.

Duncan, at 9:00 am EST on November 2, 2006

Surprise! You’re TEACHING the lowest common denominator.

...And they’re more common than you think.

And they like young teachers— more to the point, they connect better with young teachers and there are so few of them that of course they’ll be rated higher.

Banning cell phones in class is something faculty should have figured out a long time ago. And if you think this will prevent RMP posts, that’s even crazier. I can’t believe it took RMP this long to incorporate photos. Now we’re at the mercy of the college’s admin.

d, at 11:20 am EST on November 2, 2006

Customers

I don’t think of my students as customers. The situation is completely different. And, Duncan, as for feedback, I’m all for it. When bankers & bakers & pharmacists start seeking feedback & publishing it in an objective way, then I’ll put my student evaluations up for public examination. If people with actual customers don’t seek such feedback, don’t ask me to do so.

As for alternative, asynchronous models of delivering information to students, I’m all for it. In fact, I do it now within the limits of my institution’s technical capabilities. I hope to offer a class entirely online in the near future.

D, I can’t tell whether you’re calling me stupid, or my students. I don’t think that either is true.

Joseph Duemer, Professor at Clarkson University, at 1:30 pm EST on November 2, 2006

I’m not calling anyone stupid, but naive seems to be a fitting word for both sides of the aisle.

And speaking of the aisle, I’ll repeat a notion that nobody’s picking up on: RMP is only as effective as the admin. Who is the admin? Each college or university has a student admin who has to approve every comment and post. If that student was remotely responsible, RMP could become legit. And many schools DON’T have admins yet, so everything posted doesn’t get screened. In fact, since RMP doesn’t even require proof that you’re a student, even a Professor could become an admin- or a burned former student could stay an admin long after they’ve left.

d

d, at 4:01 pm EST on November 2, 2006

Well. Wave is wave.

For better or worse, it will be in institution’s benifit to host feedbck site. At least, you are more likely to see positive feedback or at least even the playing fields — One student got one chance to vote — it’s not like one people can change the rating by voting multiple times.

Please also realize that people think about posting something like that when they are failed, frustrated ... etc. A normal students probably don’t even bother to check those sites. Even without the picture, the word could have bad effect. At this point, we can only hope students are smart enough to ignore what was posted on the RMP — I suppose Clarkson students are good enough. But how about institutions with not so good students?

Duncan, at 4:45 pm EST on November 2, 2006

Turnabout?

So, Ewan, I agree that it’s not a big deal, but I have two questions:

1. Would you mind if a professor posted a note about you, commenting on your performance, perhaps with a picture & a comment about whether you are hot or not? (Don’t worry, there’s a federal law against such things. I can’t even put a box of graded papers outside my door for students to pick up because someone might see someone else’s grade, which is a violation of privacy.)

2. You say you have been using RMP to pick your classes & that you have found it accurate. But accurate about what? Has it occurred to you that you may have been choosing courses / profs in such a way that you are getting a worse education than if you used, say, the course catalog? Easy courses taught by “hot” profs might, just might, add up to an inferior education & an inferior education might, just might, add up to you coming across like a poorly educated mediocrity in a job interview. I’m just sayin’. . .

Obviously, we disagree, but I really hope you check back because I’d really like to hear your answers to my questions.

Joseph Duemer, Professor at Clarkson, at 9:00 pm EST on November 2, 2006

ok kids, recess is over.

RMP is the best thing that ever happened to my student life. I was working fulltime as I went to school , and so I didn’t have the time to mix with other students to find out who the useful professors were. RMP pointed me out to the right profs and hence I did not regret any of my classes.Unlike a few students(mostly new, hadn’t learned the ropes yet or couldn’t get into the right profs’ classes)who ran into the various useless profs that exist,that inevitably scarred them for life. I would want my children to take a look at RMP because for one, it has warned on the various sexual perverts that are teaching in lecture halls, two, it minimizes waste of money on lazy profs who are not worth a dime and three,it makes them look forward to classes with high ratings,that they fought hard to get into (those two go hand in hand.). Never has freedom of information been more useful to a student.It is not true that only white and younger profs get more ratings. I mean ,it is obvious.That comment above is being desperately used to inspire dislike for RMP in a slow-minded racially prejudiced way. So fug off , all of ya, RMP lives on.

issa, at 5:55 am EST on November 3, 2006

Privacy As we Knew It

This is a fascinating article. The implications of this go beyond the classroom. If a student can take pictures of a professor in a classroom, why not a patient taking pictures of their doctor or mental health professional in their office? So we create a policy that says no cell phones in the classroom. But if it is done unobtrusively so as no one will notice how can such a policy be enforced? Should it be enforced? The Technology is such that a camera can be the size of an earring or neck tie pin.

The other question of course is who has the right to privacy? We can argue that a student or a patient has certain rights to privacy and confidentiality etc. But they also have the right to waive confidentiality. However do those same rights apply equally to a teacher or a health care professional if the student or patient chooses to waive their right to privacy? These are interesting questions that I have bee studding. I suspect that in the 21st century privacy as we knew it is no more and it will need to be redefined.

John Riolo, at 7:15 am EST on November 3, 2006

Rate My Professor-Like Any Other Rating of Human Beings

I AM THANKFUL for Rate My Professor for my this generation of adult “kids,” their friends, family, and adult learners. If only I had that tool when I was pursing all my education! We use to rely on our friends who took a class or professor to not ruin our GPA’s and the opportunity NOT to lose our merit based scholarships. During the “draft,” if a male didn’t make it, he really was on his way to Viet Nam! Professors have the power of the pen to destroy anyone’s grade and GPA and scholarships and our resumes and applications for jobs! I was a woman considered a minority (ha! ha!) not a caucasian white human being, but I had no breaks. I had to study 3 times as hard as my much younger counterparts beside me despite my IQ.

With tenure out there, a non-caring, lazy, difficult to talk to, not having the time of day for students instructor could get away with what he/she wanted. They still do today! I was shocked to have professors use the “F” word so much! You bet back then I took tape recorders as huge as a boom box as they weren’t much smaller or affordable to buy something else. I NEVER asked for permission as I was a taxpayer in a public institution with my civil and constitutional rights! All my profesors who loved teaching and success of their students welcomed it. As a married woman, I needed all the assistance I could get. As a result I graduated from 1 of 4 campuses....2nd in my huge graduating class as an adult learner with students 10 years younger than I! Had I received 1/2 point higher, I would have been valedictorian!

If a professor has nothing to hide, then why ban cameras or cell phones or taping devices. We have answering machines on our home phones to keep a copy for our protection should someone deny calling us, such as a telemarketer or sales call on the do not call list or after a certain hour.

I WELCOME professors adding a blog or perhaps defending their ratings. Make sure we all can see it. It’s all about free speech for everybody.

In the world we live in today, we have to do so much more to get on an airplane, submit drivers licenses for certain doctor prescriptions and sign for them, wear a name tag with picture for our jobs, perhaps before entering our work site placing our finger in a machine or our iris scanned, fill out all sorts of paper work for a mortgage or to obtain a job including our credit report. Try to switch to a less expensive car insurance, and one will find out by monitoring one’s credit report one was checked up on through the 3 major credit agencies. Every time a check is made on those credit records, the FICO Score goes down! No one can rent a home or an apartment as a first or secondary residence without a credit check and references who could blackball us or rent a car without showing proof of who we are, our proof of automobile insurance, and a picture id.

We have unauthorized undocumented workers from other countries who purposely falsify paperwork, but can any of us here do that morally or lawfully without being incarcerated?!

My husband had taught years on the high school level in a poor inner city school district we choose to live in with students making bomb threats to our home or our car, saying they took out life insurance policies to collect the insurance, and acted up in class in front of the principal or department head or superintendent for the purpose of being white while teaching in a black school district wanting my husband out of there for stifling their fun and not wanting to learn; we had our children and friends children and family members in the inner city schools when we could have chose the white school with everything a parent could want for their children’s education close by. One of our children had death threats and set-ups to be in in-school suspension with kids who were friends as a set-up as their word meant more than 1 person’a word and character without our knowledge! One lost the opportunity to continue to be a patrol person for lies of the kids who didn’t have experience or ineraction with a caucasian community. We chose the African-American school and community to learn about others and to be tolerant and make friends and worship with them. They learned we weren’t the boogey man out to get them or take anything away from them.

WE DON’T use excuses or blame others if we don’t come up to the standards or non-standards of the students one is responsible for. Be a teacher in a public school with observations unannounced and work in non-union states with much less income and see where YOU could end up! Or one can make lemons into lemonade. Many of us parents have joined in on myspace.com with our own sites not to just monitor those we love and care about but to make our views known. Profesors, send us to your myspace so we may know about you more and choose courses wisely by what you say against what students say. We’ll know if the student (s) rated you poorly if they were lazy, wanted to do it for a prank, had their own grudge to grind, or were unfair towards you. We parents and previous or current adult learners will be able to know for ourselves who is telling the truth and who is not. If a teacher was in a public school below the 12th grade level, the school and the teachers are rated. If the school receives 2-3 below acceptable levels, the state takes over and fires everyone.

For the instructor who said he/she will ban cell phones and digital recorders...go right ahead and try. You can be sure we mothers and fathers in the educational field will or not will be out there outside your classroom with the media as we did in the 60’s-70’s marching with our signs. We will make sure you have less of our kids and family’s kids and adult students and our neighbors take your class or classes. These cell phones are a life line for our families! They are not used in OUR home for chatting. We could care less about your picture or no picture. We want to just know YOU and who you are and your teaching style and if you feel any accountability to we the taxpayer paying your income and benefits.

My husband is rated at the university never knowing who says what. Sure, they could say something about his looks, his speech, his demeanor, that he is not skinny, and just plain hate him, not like his facial features, or some other excuse. But in the end, so MANY have come back later in high school and college to thank him which were the worst of the worst troublemaking students; they came back to be speakers for him and the school with maturity. He took the high road and taught them and called them his “kids” to the point of neglecting those of us in his own home, but we joked and understood his passion to teach! :0)

If YOU really are into teaching and in the classroom to pass your skills and education down to YOUR students, don’t mind the low pay compared to what you can make in industry, really want your younger and adult learners to learn the subject to move on instead of move out to make your class load easier, and not make your tests departmental to fail out the ones you don’t want for smaller classes for more money and less work, then you need to change professions. Our tax dollars pay for you to be there!

We’ve had terrorist professors with connections with terrorist groups receiving monetary funds into their organizations from them, sex predators in the educational domain, and crooked fund stealing scandals in higher ed. If you’re worried about your picture and info on you, maybe you’d be much more cooperative to not hide yourself. Be pro-active by being out in the open about yourself and your teaching style. As for your threats denying cell phones that take pictures in the classroom, anyone can take a picture of any of we educators out in the street much less stressful than the papparazi coming after us or the media camping outside our homes.

I am fed up with one of my children’s colleges who is very gifted academically and gifted musically and a very honorable person so many like. My word of mouth and others passes around to let others know what is going on. A student can’t be late 1 minute to class for being in traffic, car break down, in traffic where an accident has happened, etc. unless they are hospitalized for something deathly, or they are listed as absent being 1 minute late! Any 3 absencences is a lower grade or a failing grade. When those of us went to our colleges, the professors either understand and assisted, or they could care less if we ever came to class (I never missed a day nor my husband as adult learners who worked, but if extremely ill and ordered by the doctor for bed rest, the one who was well or less ill went to the other’s college to tape record the class to not miss out on our education.) As long as all students did their assignments and took their own tests with picture id, the professors didn’t take roll. Students where our one adult child attends and other schools make lower grades the 1st 2 tests to make them drop out as they are what the student tapes or writes down the notes of the professor for that class can be found and on-line; unfortunately, all tests except a handful of instructors of many give departmental tests of the professors one did not have! Students are told as the class thins down, “by the way, your last set of tests are much easier” with the professor reviewing in class (a rare happenening these days) and are geared towards the departmental tests of everyone who contributed!

We pay a lot to send our young men and women to college. Some students sacrifice a lot having kids as single mothers/fathers trying to move out of the poverty level, taking care of kids, working full time, school, kids activities, and everything else placed upon 1 parent. There are mothers/fathers out there, and there are mothers/fathers whose spouse has left them, has passed away, is totally disabled not being able to contribute to the household, left because one did not want to be a mother/father, left because kids have interfered with their lifestyle, etc. with no outside income or child support or family support physically or monetarily, not taking governemnt assistance. And they are not to have cell phones for emergencies or to record their class or rate a professor who maybe doesn’t care or perhaps with an attitude? I don’t think so.

Dee Williams, Author, Educator, at 11:50 am EST on November 3, 2006

Customer Vs Client

Last year, one very bright but intense student asked me to stop teaching trivial things that he can read right out of the textbook (unfortunately, he was sitting in front of me after the final exam, probably, b/c I had put too many Qs about simple/trivial stuff that he didn’t bother to study). Anyway, he told me that he was my paying customer and I must respond to his demands. My reponse was: 1) You are one of the smartest course ‘participants’ in the room and not everyone can grasp all concepts as easily as you can. You can come to my office to discuss intricate concepts as well as take a challenging topic for the course project, which would increase your satisfaction from the course.2) I would suggest that you consider yourself as our paying ‘clients’ and not customers. If you consider yourself as a client and us as consultants then a significant portion of responsibility for the success of our client-consultant relationship will be yours. However, if you keep considering yourself as our ‘customers’ then the success, or otherwise, of this enterprise would entirely depend on us and you might not like us to play such an overwhelming role in your career.

Anyway, most comments posted on RMP are of little use. Our students are very smart and bright. They may help us in improving efficacy of our teaching and mentoring by suggesting some actionable ideas. Simply saying “I hate/love this prof” is of little use (btw, I do not consider a comment like this as actionable: “Prof, I feel that I knew all the material you asked in the exam but there was not enought time to answer those. Although half of the class left the exam hall before the exam end time, I feel you will be grading my ability to write the exam in limited time and not my knowledge of the subject and it’s unfair").

In short, I feel the idea of seeing students as ‘paying customers’ is only a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, I found many comments here supporting this idea.

Dr. Abdul-Rahim Ahmad, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, at 5:26 am EST on November 4, 2006

Customers Vs. Clients

Dr. Abdul-Rahim Ahmad, I appreciated your insight on the value of considering the student-teacher relationship as client to consultant. A customer generally has a short-term relationship with the seller and a limited warranty. Is this what students REALLY want to be, or have they been sold this identification so schools have less accountability? A client, on the other hand, holds a stronger, more meaningful and lasting relationship. Clients can return again and again for advice, often at reduced or no charge depending on the strength of the relationship. The client model humanizes education, and it does not hold the stigma of the “customer” label, one that seems to have originated in the for-profit sector. A school can be for-profit and serve clients effectively. A non-profit or public college can do the same. The term levels the marketing field, I think.

How does this relate to RMP? Students think that by reviewing RMP they are “shopping” for professors. They do this if they view themselves as “customers.” If students viewed themselves as clients, they would NOT be using RMP. Would you, for example, look for a personal coach this way? How about an accountant for your small business? How about a therapist? Most people would say, “No!” Rather, they would search official records and professional sites. Perhaps that is what is really needed: a mass professional site for workers in higher education where instructors can post a curriculum vitae, feedback from students, courses taught, institutions taught at, and special interests. Then, let the students catalog shop. At least there would be some legitimacy there.

kgotthardt, at 11:00 am EST on November 4, 2006

Society fails to reinforce expectations for education

Students pay just one third the cost of their tuition at our local community college. Taxpayers fund the rest. The ratios may vary for four year universities and between states, but the bottom line is that society bears the burden of the monetary expense for educating its citizens, as it should. Unfortunately, society does not follow through with its responsibility to objectively hold the education system accountable.

Rosie, at 4:55 pm EST on November 4, 2006

I find it curious and disturbing that these demands are being made for public accountability for professors. Those outside academia, including students, are rarely aware of what our job actually entails, and are therefore not qualified to asses our work, which includes many facets OUTSIDE the classroom. Perhaps energies would be better focused on demanding accoutability from the people running the country instead.

AS, at 12:35 pm EST on November 5, 2006

I can understand the privacy concerns, but what about the positive side of having pictures of professors? Students tend to think of their professors as grading machines who live at the school. A photo could discredit a slew of bad ratings. After all, how likely are you to believe the happy, smiling person in the photo is mean and unfriendly? A professor with a goofy photo, one that shows them as a human being who is interesting and fun to be around, is likely to be wildly popular come registration.

Janet, at 1:15 pm EST on November 6, 2006

Calm down profs!

RMP is a great tool for students! I think it’s totally fair that we know what we’re getting into before signing up for a class or professor that we totally wouldn’t get along with. RMP has made me choose certain professors while avoiding others; and I think I made the right choice each time!

When it comes down to it, if your RMP score is low and you’re the only prof teaching the class that semester, we’re going to suck it up and take your boring class anyway.

As far as the pictures go- suck it up and stop doing those dresses from 1982!

Miranda, Charlotte, at 10:05 pm EST on November 6, 2006

new law

Apparently many are not aware of a new law passed this past January, to protect women in particular, but it sets up severe penalties for sending anonymous or false e-mails that intimidate, threatening, defame, or even annoy anyone. Professors, I fought this fight back in 1999 and lost, but now you can fight and win! Bringsuits now.

Dan, at 4:31 pm EST on November 7, 2006

Sometimes it pays to listen to Chicken Little

The Education System is failing to teach students the type of conflict resolution most employers expect on the job. At the very least, a graduate should learn how to resolve conflict with their supervisor and peers in a professional manner and high reliability industries are expecting far more. In the workplace, many of these students will be expected to speak up BEFORE they have a problem and work with others to identify contributing factors, root causes, and develop an action plan.

Some might find comfort in the belief that students using ratemyprofessor.com to anonymously vent and shop for easy classes are probably not going to be chosen for a position where a high degree of accountability is required. In many cases, these students probably won’t even graduate, but it only stands to reason that a truely able student that wants a degree with as little work as possible are enabled by RMP, in a very organized and convenient fashion, to achieve that indolent goal. At some point, able students that studied hard to earn the same degree with a lower GPA are going to witness these swindlers getting the competitive edge when they first enter the workforce.

I may sound like chicken little, but as somebody who worked in a high reliability industry for 10+ years, I learned that correcting a people-problem is never easy, but if you let it escalate to the point of harm, it can seem almost insurmountable. Now that I’m working in higher education, I’m witnessing young students, who are most in need of guidance, turning to RMP for counsel. As a beginning teacher (2 months in PUBLIC education), I’m frustrated that I have students that won’t work with me to resolve the problems they have with me. As a parent, I’m worried about trusting my teens in the hands of an education system that enables RMP by default. As a taxpayer footing the bill for two thirds the cost of tuition, I’m angry the education system I’m funding isn’t teaching these young citizens how to resolve conflict and set productive goals. As an American, I’m frightened that we have so many young citizens unable to apply the basic principles behind the first and sixth ammendments of the United States Consitution to their daily life, unless forced to do so by law.

I emailed my concerns to the State Board of Education and one of the many universities that I fund as a taxpayer, but so far neither has responded. I had the comments about me on RMP reviewed for “libelous or erroneous” content, according to the procedure outline on their website. RMP assumed the responsibility of evaluating the facts and credibility of the witness making accusations against me by deligating the review to one of their “screeners". After RMP’s screener reviewed the comments for “libelous or erroneous” content, RMP turned their red flag of potential libel/error into their green check of acceptance, without even contacting me. Of course, I took snapshots as I went through the entire process so I have documentation of the libelous comments bearing the RMP green flag of acceptance.

Now I have to figure out how to regain my joy of teaching, while knowing there are students in my class that will not work with me to resolve problems in a productive manner, and have no compunction over internationally publishing their scathing remarks...or perhaps a vignette highlighting my withering mojo...

Rosie, Science Instructor at Public College, at 3:56 pm EST on November 8, 2006

Tim this site might be of interest to you. http://rateyourstudents.blogspot.com/

Jess, at 6:20 am EST on November 9, 2006

What are you afraid of?

“Rate My Professor” is the only place a student can go to find honest feedback about a professor. The universities and colleges provide glowing reviews of our professors, which is usually not accurate. There have been instructors that I’ve had that the university may hold in high regard, but they have been rude to the class, obsolete on current developments, or completely absent-minded. The worst are the professors that threaten their students if they go to the dean. Students should know about these professors before they sign up for their classes. The cameras and video recorders are a great idea, because it forces the school and the professors to be held accountable for what they teach and how they teach it.

Dannon, at 7:50 am EST on November 9, 2006

Lawsuit

I am interested in pursuing the possibility of a lawsuit against RMP for the libelous content that they permit and for its publicly defamatory nature. I am also opposed to having a student or anyone post a picture of me on the web without my express consent. I see this as infringing on my right to privacy. Where do we begin?

MF, at 1:15 pm EST on November 9, 2006

MF,I think a good place to begin is with the administration of our institution. Professors should protest in writing: threaten to walk off the job indefinitely if the administration does not remove their names from RMP, and guarantee that it stays off. Also the university should mandate that cell phones not be made visible in class. Failure to comply should result in the student failing the course, or being expelled from the university. Perhaps the professors’ union could get involved.

The first amendment which protects student’s freedom of expression should also protect a professor’s right to express him/herself. This of course means that professors under this amendment should have the right to publish online student’s grades along with comments explaining how the student earned that grade, if they so choose. Also professors should have the right to reply to comments made on RMP through a site of their own, and identify by name, the student that they are replying to. After spending 12-16 weeks with a student, it is not difficult to determine who has written what comment. Pattern and style of writing are all good identifiers.

Also some universities have made class evaluations online, on campus. This of course negates the argument that students need some way to find out who the good and bad professors are. Universities that don’t have this option should be pressured into having it.

A few questions to ponder: how is it that the first amendment and federal law protect students’ right to privacy and we are led to believe that it does not protect a professors’? What are our great legal minds doing about this bit of inequality and unfairness? Which other profession has an evaluation of their performance published on the World Wide Web? How come we don’t have rateyourlawyer, rateyouraccountant, rateryourdoctor, rateyourmailman, etc?

Who knows, if RMP sticks around it might inspire the creation of sites such as rateyourpharmicist, rateyournurse, rateyourengineer etc., so that by the time our students graduate and enter their profession of choice they would be in the same position as us, where irate consumers/clients rate them online, and it’s available on the World Wide Web for us to see.

Jess, at 7:25 pm EST on November 9, 2006

Many of the professors that have responded say that Rate My Professor is a violation of their privacy. They also like to point out that if professors were to do the same thing to students, the students would be outraged. I only have two things to say on that subject. One, my school actually does have a system in which teachers can comment to each other about specific students- and although I understand that it is not nearly as public as Rate My Professor, I see nothing wrong with it. Two, I actually could care less if professors wrote little comments about me as a student, and posting a picture would bother me even less. In fact, I would be happy to give typical comments I believe I would find on such a site. As a student, I have used Rate My Professor numerous times. However, I don’t take it as the Holy Grail Of Course Selection, nor do I know of anyone who would. Like anything, I feel that the comments have to be taken with a grain of salt. I personally have had a few horrible teachers who have scored high on Rate My Professor and I have had just as many good teachers who have scored badly on Rate My Professor. I truthfully feel that if professors took into account these ratings that they might be able to make their classes more interesting, applicable, informing (ect...) or whatever the case may be.

Stacy, La Salle University, at 7:20 am EST on November 10, 2006

The “First Amendment” Defense is Hogwash

There’s a dangerous complacency and ignorance on the part of ratemyprofessor’s managers if they think, as they are quoted, that “students are protected by the First Amendment” even when they are wrong.

Inaccurate statements that could damage a professor’s reputation are potentially actionable—that is, you could get sued. If not in the States, where such a suit would be thrown out of court, then easily in the UK, where libel laws are far more favorable to the damaged party (the professor). Since ratemyprofessor is international—and look, it’s even in the UK—and potentially accessible worldwide, false statements made about professors could be grounds for a lawsuit.

I say this not to carp—I am a professor of literature, work my a*s off to be a good teacher, and have a very favorable rating on this site—but just to let ratemyprofessor.com know that they’re silly if they think that false and potentially damaging comments on this site are protected speech worldwide. They’re not.

Jefe, Professor at California State University, Chico, at 4:40 am EST on December 20, 2006

Then again consider the big times!

www.ratemyprofessor.com is purely an entertainment site with all the relevant participants. Let’s see what gives here.

Got the RMP folks who obviously pick up some nice change from the site sponsors....if you think about it, RMP is simply playing the part of the stadium owner while the Sponsors are sponsoring the so-called game between the Professors who provide the entertainment to the Students as they fill up the stands.

Let’s see, something is screwy about the above scenario. Certain parties are unfairly separated on a monetary basis! Could you imagine this happening in golf where Nike forces its insignia on golfers and golfers get no kickback? Yeah, right.

Realizing that RMP arbitrarily chooses to take professors as free slaves to provide income-producing entertainment, seems only right that RMP and/or the commercial (usually Credit Card company) sponsors should provide a per-click/per-rating kickback fee to each professor on the “roster.” Such a payment scheme might even the playing field a bit.

BeachedatBeach, at 7:55 am EST on December 30, 2006

easy solution

Yes I know the world (and in particular RMP) is unfair, but instead of complaining about it the professors should take their fate into their own hands. Going to the library late at night, and see unattended computer? Go to RMP and give yourself a nice rating. Imitating your students’ writing is not too much of a problem, is it? Don’t forget to add a pepper if you wish to have one. Conferences, public libraries, your departments’ computer labs, those are all opportunities for more smiley faces. You refuse to stoop to this level and feel like a total fake who’s writing love letters to himself? All true, but shameless self-promotion is not exactly an alien concept, inside or outside the academia. Or suffer for your principles.

abc, at 5:25 pm EST on January 22, 2007

It is all about accountability....there is nothing wrong with “rate your professor” because “professors” rate students...students just aren’t fully aware of it since it stays in a “confidential academic file.” I feel it should be public knowledge about a professor’s actons in the classroom...and the professor need to take responsibility and accountability for their actions...I would still be in graduate school if I would have known about my professor. He sexually assaulted and sexually harassed me...so i think it is absurd to keep information about “professors” confidential...I have always respected my professors and society puts them on pedastools however they “put their pants on the same way everyone else does.”

KW, at 6:55 am EDT on May 12, 2007