Editor,
I have a couple of things I want to say in reference to Thursday’s front-page article, “Professors Rate RateMyProfessor.”
The kinds of students who leave comments on RateMyProfessor.com probably fall into one or more of three categories:
The first is the kind of student that I and all instructors dread:
They don’t want to work, have a ridiculous sense of entitlement and throw hissy fits when they don’t get their way. These people won’t make it at a four-year university, and they aren’t the kind of people you want to take advice from.
All other ratings probably come from people who were just tickled pink that they got an A in the class they took, or they liked their instructor because he or she was “hot.”
If I were a student who was sincerely trying to find the best professor for a class, I would be very cautious before taking RateMyProfessor seriously. If nothing else, this site promotes laziness.
The other problem I have with these kinds of rating sites is that they mostly serve as a forum for students to exact revenge.
How do I know this? With a brief glance at the image that accompanied the original article in the Daily Lobo, I observed a negatively rated individual who isn’t technically an instructor at UNM.
This person doesn’t teach classes; therefore, this rating isn’t based on anything with substance. The people who make these negative comments may have “personal” problems with this individual, but the rating can’t possibly be based on teaching credentials.
It is unfortunate that the University doesn’t have a system in place to give students a better idea about the quality of courses.
However, students should ultimately assume responsibility for their own education in college.
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RateMyProfessor.com is for students who are too lazy to send an email to a professor about course expectations, or to talk to their friends about classes they liked (or disliked).
Putting in that minimal amount of effort is the best way to get information, not some lame website.
Melissa Pardi
UNM student
Editors’ Note: While not a professor, Cara Lea Council-Garcia, the overall lowest-rated UNM teacher on RateMyProfessors.com, is a lecturer within the biology department. All teachers listed in the graphic on Thursday’s story are instructors at UNM.
