One of the more interesting aspects of my job is student evaluations. It is the academic equivalent of the comment card restaurants used to keep on their tables. For those of you who are younger than 35, a comment card was the paper form of a Yelp review that establishments would keep at the table for you to fill out if you wanted. The exception was that the customer had to submit it while they were still in the restaurant. Most of the time, the comments were short talking points, not monographs about every tedious second of their wretched experience.

I came across another professor who, in my opinion, puts way too much emphasis on what students think of them. I don’t usually understand that perspective. I can see some relevance to this notion if you teach at a SLAC and your majors will see you repeatedly throughout their college career. Otherwise, why let a student’s opinion of you influence how you teach? Teach to the best of your ability, and everything should work out.

Every semester, I like to peruse my student evaluations to see where I can improve. I am not the type who seeks constant praise, but the comments at the end are at least entertaining to read. I like to see that I made an impact on some of the students I teach, and they sometimes leave interesting tidbits of information. Some of it is insightful about the culture we have here at Romulus. Most of their opinions infer bigger problems, but sometimes they have no problem letting you know if you or another faculty member sucks. It will never cease to amaze me that there will always be one student in the class who leaves hateful, petty comments. I am never sure what I did to make them this upset, but I don’t really care because everybody else is leaving positive feedback.

I would say their negativity irks me, just like comedians who usually focus on the person who isn’t laughing, even though the rest of the room is all smiles and chuckles. However, I don’t ever feel that way. I managed to find a way of teaching that works for me and, for the most part, appears engaging for the students I teach. From what I have gleaned from faculty and students, my delivery is more honest than most. While it is true that I try not to come across as pompous, arrogant, or callous, I do know that my trailer park bluntness can rub people the wrong way. I’m just glad that I don’t have that horrible condition where I try to make a joke and then chuckle a little to myself as the students cringe in embarrassment.

I know some people think that if they provide a negative review of a restaurant or a professor, the business will suffer or the professor will get fired. I have overheard students mutter such things, believing that their voices will be the key factor in getting that boring chemistry professor canned. I hate to break it to you, sunshine, but unless that person committed a felony or spoke out against the recently deceased, they will retain their position. It should come as no surprise either. Since when did a business manager ever pay heed to those little cards anyway? They end up in the garbage eventually. Just like the student evaluations, they give you the illusion of power, but don’t amount to much.