Should Students Rate Their Professors?

Written by Nicholas Lapierre

Thumbnail & Banner Photo by Tra Nguyen on Unsplash


Every student has an opinion about their professors’ teaching styles. The extent to which this opinion should be expressed is a current debate. Should students rate their professors? The truth is that they already do, but very inaccurately. Professors work hard to ensure that their courses contain accurate assessments. Kenneth Boyd, who holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy, discounts the accuracy of student evaluations. Why? There are numerous biases that students have against their professors. According to a study by the University of Michigan, websites such as Rate My Professor demonstrate the primary factors students use to rate professors. Most of the time, students base their ratings on the quality of their marks. In addition, a study by the University of Toronto claims that gender bias is a prominent within student evaluations, which poses an issue when universities attempt to collect accurate data. It is obstacles like these that have become a problem across the United States and Canada. Thus, students should not be able to rate their professors.


What do psychologists say about student evaluations?

Research in psychology suggests that biases interfere with accurate evaluations. According to Kenneth, students with an A will likely give their professor a higher rating. On the other hand, students who were given an F or a D were said to rate their professors lower. As explained by social psychologists, students will rate their professors lower to protect their self-image. Psychologists reported students were giving professors a bad rating if the course proved academically challenging. For instance, Dr Kenneth Boyd said students who had to expend extra effort to achieve a grade gave professors a lower rating. Undoubtedly, some students take advantage of rating systems to mask their laziness. However, this is not the only bias that exists when rating professors. Gender bias is a current issue in many Universities. According to a study by Ann Boring, students criticized professors for not possessing gender-traditional traits. For women, these traits included wearing makeup. Male professors were rewarded with higher reviews if they were muscular and fit.  None of these characteristics are related to the professor's teaching ability. Additional universities took this study further by evaluating students directly in their schools. The University of Toronto studied the ratings students gave their professors. Male professors released their grades and received a 4.3 out of 5 rating. However, female professors received a 3.5 out of 5 or lower. The statistics show a population of students who are influenced by gender when rating their teachers. Ultimately, students evaluate professors using the wrong criteria. 


How should students evaluate their professors?

However, students' opinions of their teachers could be valued by universities if students asked the right questions. Watermark Insights is a blog that offers a guide on evaluating teachers. Students should be critiquing a teacher's professionalism and ability to communicate with students. It is questions like these that students should ask when posting reviews. A good example of the latter is the anonymous Brightspace evaluations at Saint Mary’s. According to research, having students remain anonymous provides more accurate data. The instructor evaluations ask students valuable questions about the professor's teaching ability and engagement with the course. Further, ask if the course enhanced the students knowledge of the subject and course material. Questions like these are one of the many asked in student evaluations, proving that the universities criteria is more accurate then online websites. Arguably, if students knew the impact their reviews had on their professors, they may reconsider some of their comments. The professor should ask their students for constructive feedback. On the contrary, there are elements students should refrain from assessing. Dr Gravestock, a psychologist studying the influence of ratings of professors, says that an undergraduate student should not be critiquing the professor's knowledge. The whole point of university is to gain knowledge and skills from an intellectual. How is it fair that students grade teachers on subjects they spend half their lives studying? Students can rate their professors, but the qualities they rate must be relevant to teaching methods as opposed to the content being taught. 

Is Rate My Professor accurate?

As mentioned, Rate My Professor is a prominently used website to critique professors, but it has many inaccuracies. Why is this site so important? It is a website that demonstrates how the average student rates their professors. Additionally, universities use this website to determine if faculty receive promotions. A study from the American Journal of Criminal Justice claimed that the ratings on the website impact a professor's future career. The issue with this site is that it allows too much freedom in comments. According to the site, professors can rate themselves, meaning they can change their reviews and hide specific comments. The limited restriction on the site is an issue that creates a biased website. For example, one student claimed a professor rated five out of five was completely below this rating. So, the site needs to revise the comment section to ensure that the site is more accurate. Students have also been reported to post hateful comments degrading their teachers. The site's purpose is to deliver a precise depiction of a professor's teaching style; it should not be a Reddit chat board full of complaints. According to the site, there have been changes to ensure that harmful or abusive comments are not shown. However, irrelevant comments are a present issue. Indeed, this is an excellent step to improving the website. The next step would be to remove comments concerning a teacher's physical attractiveness. It's not just unrelated to teaching. It's also a little strange. Students should understand their words can be hurtful and can slash away at a person and their integrity. So, students should be mindful of what they post on the website. Thus, the website should seek new improvements so it can become an accurate source of information. 

It's no surprise that how students rate their professors needs to be more accurate. As mentioned, many studies have shown that professors who hand out the highest marks are likely to achieve the highest grades. Bias exists everywhere, but one place that it should not live in is teaching evaluations. Let students remember that their opinion is not entirely irrelevant. The student's opinion is a key to understanding the school's issues. In addition, it helps provide the university with improvements. Let's face it: some professors mark harshly and should be penalized for this.

On the other hand, insulting professors and calling them names on student websites is unprofessional. Moreover, universities take student evaluations seriously, so students should strive to improve the quality of their comments. It is essential to remember what students post about their teachers online. Many are indeed attempting to help their students in the best way possible. Hence, websites such as Rate My Professor are systems that need to undergo changes so they can be more effective in aiding both students and their professors. So, how do students and the university end these biases? It would be more logical to use the student evaluations posted by the university. Additionally, universities should carefully consider the questions posed to students. Ultimately, rating professors can be a good thing, but rating them ineffectively can ruin the reputation of the most influential educators. 


Rita Jabbour