ByWillAtkinson.com

I wrote a story on the professor grading Web site RateMyProfessors.com. It was published in the Johnsonian:

At the end of the semester, many Winthrop students anxiously click on the WingSpan Web site to access their grades. For most, the results are acceptable. The average undergraduate GPA for a semester is just over 2.9.

These days, however, students aren’t the only ones getting grades. Over the last five years, several wildly popular Web sites have emerged that allow students to praise or exact revenge on their teachers in a public forum. Many opt for the latter.

Some highlights:

“Instant amnesia walking into this class. I swear he breathes sleeping gas.”

“If I was tested on her family, I would have gotten an A.”

Web sites such as RateMyProfessors.com, PickAProf.com and Rateaprof.com let students rate professors on criteria such as easiness, clarity, helpfulness and even physical attractiveness which is denoted by a small chili pepper icon. RateMyProfessors rates more than 4 million teachers at 5,000 schools across the country.

Some professors believe these ratings Web sites encourage students to pick easier professors who will not challenge them intellectually.

One annoyed professor who goes by a “tenured humanities professor from a college in the South” struck back with an online retort: Rateyourstudents.blogspot.com. His Web site lambastes students for carelessness, laziness and plain stupidity. The unnamed professor said he began the Web site after a fellow teacher received a caustic rating on RateMyProfessors.

At Winthrop, 475 professors are slain or spared in gladiatorial function.

Clarence Coleman, an accounting professor, encourages his student to explore RateMyProfessors.

“To me, a student has to decide for himself what they want our of a college education,” Coleman said. “I am for free speech.”

Coleman’s ratings on RateMyProfessors were less than encouraging:

“Quite simply the worst teacher I’ve ever had.”

“You will have to teach yourself if you take this guy.”

Coleman isn’t worried though.

“I try to prepare my students for life. It’s a tough class and it could be a situation where some students may not have the background to do well in the class,” Coleman said. “An employer might give you an exam before you get the job and you might not be able to cut it.”

Modern languages professor Sheila Carter-Hill thinks ratings Web sites are a good idea in theory.

“This is a free country. I know that students tend to be negative but people can say whatever it is they wish to say,” Carter-Hill said. “I’ve taught for 43 years and my methodology is above reproach. If I didn’t know what I was doing, I should be shot in the head.”

According to Carter-Hill, if students can rant about professors, it should work both ways.

“Professors should have the opportunity to rant about students,” Carter-Hill said.

Education professor Lisa Johnson received a special chili pepper beside her name. According to RateMyProfessors, Johnson is “hot.”

“Well isn’t that sweet,” Johnson said. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the course though. It’s just one of those things that provide students an outlet for their thoughts.”

Johnson said she would not let opinion on a Web site change her courses.

English professor Max Childers sees no evil.

“Whatever [the students] say is silly and harmless like so many other things,” Childers said. “They’re being good Americans – expressing outrage because their sense of entitlement has been violated. Keep at it.”

On Childers, one American literature student said, “He rambles a lot and it’s very hard to stay awake.”

Childers isn’t concerned.

“Maybe he should be injected with something to stay awake although I don’t advocate drug use. Still, medical science has its limits and they may have narcolepsy,” Childers said.

He said it could have more to do with the student than the professor.

“We’re supposed to make everyone feel good. It’s the Oprah Winfrey-ization of American culture and university,” Childers said. “[Teachers] are supposed to praise mediocrity. Everyone’s a winner.”

There was no chili pepper beside geology professor Roy Jameson. Instead, there was a lot of negative feedback regarding Jameson’s teaching methods.

One geology student wrote, “He’s horrendous. The lecture’s are horrible and not worth your time.”

Another said, “You better S/U this class or you will want to shoot yourself.”

When asked to respond, Jameson said, “I have no interest in discussing that.”

Use of RateMyProfessors among Winthrop students is widespread.

“It gives you ratings on different professors so that you can see which ones are hard and which ones are easy,” said freshman chemistry major Ginger Devinney. “Students want to take the easy professors. That’s why they use RateMyProfessors.”

Others think it’s more than just getting an easy professor.

“I think students usually just want to know whether the teachers give interesting lectures or if they are nice,” said sophomore interior design major Katy Osmelowski. “I use RateMyProfessors to make sure I don’t get a teacher that has a bad attitude or a reputation for giving bad grades.”

Some students use the course schedule book hand-in-hand with RateMyProfessors.

“I use it when registering,” said senior graphic design major Drew Heffron. “I use it so I can focus on my major.”

Others are more apathetic.

“I’ve never been on it,” said sophomore special education major Bailey Williams. “My friends look at it but I don’t know if they take it seriously.”