There was a time when students relied solely on their academic plan and time availability to decide what classes they would take for their upcoming fall and spring semesters. However, much like the seasons, society often finds itself ever-changing and with that, a new factor in deciding course loads has emerged.
The school renowned ratemyprofessors.com has become a cornerstone in education for many college students across the country – and why not? It provides students nation-wide a rating system of many if not all of their school’s professors. One can even look up any college of their choosing and see that school’s overall professor approval rating. For those curious few, Mesa chimes in at 3.46 out of 5, that’s approximately 69 percent.
Nothing quite compares to the site’s comprehensive rating of professors. Students can rate professors in four different areas: helpfulness, easiness, clarity, and hotness. Along with rating one’s professor, users can rate the usage of the course text, whether attendance is mandatory or not and their general interest level of the course prior to enrolling.
For most students, a site like this is a heaven sent instrument. Prior to this previous fall semester I would have completely agreed, until now.
It wasn’t until the spring semester of my freshman year that I found out about ratemyprofessors.com, and upon finding this pseudo treasure trove of information I had thought I found the secret to surviving college. I was quite wrong. I based almost my entire fall semester on the student chosen ratings of my professors. I had believed that without a doubt I had the easiest and most fun semester ahead of me.
I came to learn that what many students found to be easy and “cool” about their professors was everything that I despised. Many students adore professors that are humorous and have a liberal attitude towards classroom etiquette. I, however, have a difficult enough time paying attention in class without the teacher acting more immature than my many classmates playing “Words with Friends” on their smart phones. So, the class I had enrolled in that was supposedly “fun” and “fail-proof” just became the bane of my semester.
The site also fails to recognize different student demographics when rating professors. A middle-aged mother of three is going to have a very different opinion on how easy or hot a professor is than say, I would. To say the site’s ratings can be misleading is a vast understatement, and the fact that students would completely alter their semester due to the fear of one poorly rated professor, is absurd.
On a humanitarian level the site is also extremely degrading to professors. Perpetuating negative Hollywood attitudes with “hotness” ratings and dismissing brilliant educators simply because they choose to do just that, educate.
As students we have to take our education far more seriously. A line has to be drawn with the whole “MTV generation” mindset. I mean this quite literally since MTV owns and operates ratemyprofessors.com. Do you really want to allow a website run by a music television channel, that doesn’t play music and has brought you such stimulating television as “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Mom,” to help in choosing classes that will assist in the development of your future career? I sure as hell don’t.