Viewpoint by Marley Malenfant/se news editor

After 11 years of its online existence, Rate My Professor should be renamed “Gossip on My Professor.”

The website has now become a mockery for professors all over. While probably not its original intent, Rate My Professor has become a site to find an easy grader, a hot professor or a lazy one. Unfortunately for some students, an easy, hot or lazy professor equals a good one.

Rate My Professor lacks credibility. There are no statistics linked with the professors being criticized for their lectures. The site is strictly word-of-mouth. Any student can leave a comment and even professors could give themselves a high approval rating without the student knowing the difference.

Most of the comments on Rate My Professor come from irate students who didn’t get an A or failed the course because the professor was “unfair,” “unorganized” or “pathetic in many ways,” which were actual comments that came from the site.

Also what might work for one student isn’t always going to work for another. I took a speech course in the summer and ignored many of the popular speech professors on SE Campus. Time was running out and classes were filling up before the decision was made. An adjunct professor by the name of Ernest Patterson was on the short list of professors to choose from.

I had a stereotype toward adjunct professors because of past experiences and felt like most don’t connect with the class.

After the first week, my perception changed. Mr. Patterson was blunt, comical and wanted his students to think outside the classroom. He told his students that his lecture style “didn’t follow the rule book.” He wasn’t easy or lazy. After the course was finished, I left with more than a passing grade. I left with more confidence to perform a speech. 

Rate My Professor would be better off if it explained a professor’s style of teaching.

Students, do some homework on the professor you’re considering. Talk to students who have taken the class or get to know professors on campus.

Stop depending on a website and gather your own rating.