Editor,
In response to the article published in the Daily Lobo on March 6 regarding ratemyprofessors.com, I'd like to address several problems I see with the negative portrayal of professors who focus on education rather than on entertainment.
I am appalled to know that education in the university setting is being undervalued and neglected while students favor less difficult, more recreational classes. It is becoming increasingly apparent that much of today's youth are more concerned with getting a degree than obtaining the knowledge that accompanies it.
I am specifically referring to classes such as Gordon Hodge's that stress reading and keeping students accountable for key knowledge that is in the required course material. As a previous student of Hodge, as well as a peer teaching assistant for his psychology 105 class, I speak from experience when I say that the amount of work required to do well in his class is nothing extraordinary, nor is it anything short of what ought to be expected from any class.
He doesn't require any papers or projects; all that is necessary to succeed is a little work ethic and a little time management from the student.
If that fails, there is always the opportunity to take advantage of the ample extra credit.
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Unfortunately, many students in his class are new to the university setting and unfamiliar with the amount of work it takes to succeed in college. This may account for his deplorable rating in helpfulness, which is not only outrageously low but completely off the mark.
On the contrary, with up to 10 peer teaching assistants in every class, each with five open office hours in addition to his own, he does all that he can to ensure student success.
I understand that there can be special circumstances that can affect individual performance. But usually, the only thing that limits such endeavors is an absence of will on behalf of the student and should not necessarily be blamed on the teacher.
But I suppose I cannot argue with online statistics, especially when we have the intellectual cream of the crop writing anonymous opinions of their professors on an MTV Web site.
Lauren Ball
UNM student
