Educational McCarthyism

People love having it their way; just ask the fast food industry. Burger King will tell you that their business is based on fast service, and having it your way. In fact that is their slogan. And is there anything wrong with that? Well, when you are talking about Whoppers and Diet Coke, no there is absolutely nothing wrong.

However, in our wonderful world, the truth remains that there are certain things that if we get it our way, we could end up hurt, emotionally unstable, or just plain stupefied. In example, speeding is something we all do. That is just a fact. If we are not careful, and choose to drive like we own the world then we could have the Super Dells of the world follow us and flash a gun in our faces to get us to slow down, we could get pulled over and have to face hefty fines, or worse, we could end up dead or in a coma.

The danger of having our own way is real, and yet in one of the most important parts of our life, our education, we feel that we should be able to have it quick easy and our own way.

Recently the Globe (slccglobelink.com )printed an article about Ratemyprofessors.com, a website that lets students tell all about the best and worst of their campus Professors. Which on the surface sounds absolutely wonderful, I mean think about it, now you can let everyone know that your Psych. teacher is the worst teacher at SLCC because of they way he/she grades, or that so-and-so's lectures are like listening to your cousin Billy's flatulation after chilly night at the family reunion. Whatever it is people will now know about it, and even better, you can find out what teachers are softies, and who grades easier than others. And the big one, the one that in this state is probably number one on the list of things to look at- are they conservative, or liberal? Do they have my viewpoint on things?

In theory all this sounds like it is a win-win situation for all involved, the students get a teacher they like, and the teachers get students that want to be there.

How ridiculous can you get? First on my list of why I hate this idea of rating your teachers is this. You all came here, and are paying good money to earn a liberal (oh no not that liberal word) education. That means to me that you are going to be presented with challenges of all sorts, including but not limited to dealing with teachers that are not easy graders, dealing with long, boring classes that you are not interested in, being presented with new ideas (God forbid) that may conflict with previously held assumptions and religious ideas, actually having to do homework and read the book, and the list could go on.

My point is, we are here to be presented with challenges, and new ideas (especially new ideas), and we should learn how to deal with those things, not how to avoid them. I can guarantee that when you are out in the work place there is going to be a boss that you are going to disagree with, but you won't have a website to Rate your bosses. The idea would be absolutely ridiculous in any professional industry, so why should it be okay here in a place were we should be learning how to make it in a professional industry.

The next reason on my list is the idea of students rating their teachers is honestly an abomination. Both on this online website to rate teachers and the student review that happen on a regular basis here at SLCC. We are not teachers, we have no idea the real work that goes into it, and who are we to decide what is best for us in regard to an educational stand point, this is something that should be done by peers, not by subordinates.

In a recent conversation with an adjunct professor, he told me his feelings about the student review. He said that he would ask his students to put down on the review that he requires bribes for good grades. He doesn't really, but he wanted to see if the department head even bothered to read the reports from the students. He never has had a response back from any of his direct superiors. Why aren't these reviews done by peers who can give valid professional advice is beyond me, but hey I am just the student.

One last thing that I want to bring up is, what I feel the real danger of rating teachers.I recently read a newspaper report, but in the article it discussed a watchdog in Berkley California that will pay students $100 to "expose" their teachers that are teaching liberal ideas in the classroom, to "warn" students about what is being taught, and blacklist teachers who have differing viewpoints from that of the watchdog group. This I think is the grossest of all crimes against the minds of America's college age students. I am saddened and disgusted at the idea that anyone would buy into this sort of corrupt and immoral affront to the pursuit of knowledge.

As I have stated before we are here to be exposed to new ideas and be able to decide for ourselves which are right and which are wrong. We can't be afraid to be wrong. We can't be afraid that if we hear another's point of view that this will somehow destroy your belief system or that we will somehow be irreparably changed. This is simply not the case. In fact we, as people, should make it our single duty to learn all that we can, to be informed and to Most of all know how we stand on an issue.

By allowing ourselves to believe that we will somehow get a better education by avoiding difficult tasks, going for the easy A and running from professors who may have a different opinion than yourselves you have put yourself in a precarious situation in deed.

(this was a rescent submission for my colomn at Salt Lake Community College newpaper the Globe)