RateMyTeacher.com -- Students Fight Back
Is it a good thing? Or is it a bad thing?
http://www.ratemyteacher.com
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JoeUser Forums
RateMyTeacher.com is a site that you probably have not heard of yet but probably will soon, especially if you have kids. RateMyTeacher.com is a site where students, or anyone actually, can go to the site and rate their middle or highschool teacher by giving a 1-5 rating in the categories of easiness, helpfullness, clarity and popularity. You then can view the overall and individual ratings that people are giving teachers along with comments that are given at the time of the rating.
Their mission statement is for "students to be informed about teachers they'll have in the future. It gives students and parents a good foundation for where their education is leading." This gives students the ability have more of a voice in their education and the ability to hold teachers accountable for what they do, or do not do, in the classroom. And students can use this rating system to get an honest opinion about their teacher from their peers.
Ok, in theory this may sound like a good idea but I have to disagree. First off, ratings are given anomously, so this gives the student the power to be able to say just about anything and not have to be held accountable for what they say or rate. The student could have a bad day at school, or maybe just received a poor grade and take out their anger by giving their teacher an underserving rating. Also, you must remember the students are children and they do not think or rationalize like adults. They may not understand why a teacher does or says something. They may take it the wrong way even though that the reason behind the teachers actions is for their benefit. They don't understand that words can hurt or even ruin a person's life or reputation.
Even if all the ratings were fair and honest, how does that really benefit the student? Sure they may see if a teacher is well liked or disliked by their peers but I honestly do not see where that will make a difference in their education. I just think it opens up a can of worms and that most of the ratings will not be done fairly which really disqualifies all ratings because you just don't know which ones were done fairly.
So what's your opinion. is RateMyTeacher.com a good thing or a bad thing?
Their mission statement is for "students to be informed about teachers they'll have in the future. It gives students and parents a good foundation for where their education is leading." This gives students the ability have more of a voice in their education and the ability to hold teachers accountable for what they do, or do not do, in the classroom. And students can use this rating system to get an honest opinion about their teacher from their peers.
Ok, in theory this may sound like a good idea but I have to disagree. First off, ratings are given anomously, so this gives the student the power to be able to say just about anything and not have to be held accountable for what they say or rate. The student could have a bad day at school, or maybe just received a poor grade and take out their anger by giving their teacher an underserving rating. Also, you must remember the students are children and they do not think or rationalize like adults. They may not understand why a teacher does or says something. They may take it the wrong way even though that the reason behind the teachers actions is for their benefit. They don't understand that words can hurt or even ruin a person's life or reputation.
Even if all the ratings were fair and honest, how does that really benefit the student? Sure they may see if a teacher is well liked or disliked by their peers but I honestly do not see where that will make a difference in their education. I just think it opens up a can of worms and that most of the ratings will not be done fairly which really disqualifies all ratings because you just don't know which ones were done fairly.
So what's your opinion. is RateMyTeacher.com a good thing or a bad thing?
