Professor Saw RMP Evaluation; I Feel Terrible.

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I was fooling around in the last thirty minutes at my internship with my cubemate yesterday, and we stumbled upon RateMyProfessor.com, which I had never looked at before.</p>

<p>I felt strongly about two particular courses in my major that were taught by the same professor, who had written two letters of recommendation for me, and with whom I was on quite good terms.</p>

<p>Both were upper-division courses, though one seemed to be a requirement for other majors, namely education. The other course was a core requirement for the major.</p>

<p>I was quite disappointed with the quality of the two classes - I felt that they were entirely too easy, required too little, and covered nowhere near enough material. The multi-major course was an absolute blow-off and the core requirement, which I'd expected to be rigorous, was only marginally better.</p>

<p>The students in the multi-major course were some of the most clueless I've ever seen, though I don't know how they fared. In the core requirement, the students were somewhat better, but on our final paper assignments, two friends of mine showed me papers which, were I professor, I'd have either outright failed or told to re-write. One paper was inappropriate at best in places. All received As.</p>

<p>I myself put forth a good-faith effort and developed a positive relationship with the professor, earning an A, too. He is unfailingly kind and helpful, really devoted to education. My gripe is just that his classes were way too easy; he is perhaps TOO nice.</p>

<p>I posted my feelings on RMP, which went something like: "Courses were seriously lacking in rigor...professor hands out As." God help me, I went so far as to use the word "blowoff". There was something vaguely identifying in the post regarding the two honors projects I had to submit. He is well-liked for being so friendly (and lenient), very much the "cool" professor - that got included. I wrapped up by saying I had mixed feelings.</p>

<p>Later that evening, I received an amicable email from him regarding my projects. With a little more correspondence, it was somewhat clear that he'd seen my post. </p>

<p>I feel like the world's greatest jerk (to keep it clean). This professor has done a lot for me, and I'm certain that my post must've hurt his feelings terribly. I don't know how to handle this, I feel awful because he knows it was me. I feel that any future possibility of doing work for him is now thoroughly shot to Hell. </p>

<p>What's quite possibly even more embarassing is that I gave him a "hot" pepper ;_;</p>

<p>On the other hand, I did not make any immature or personal attacks. Though overly harshly worded, I think my criticisms are valid.</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

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<p>I’m a former professor who used to be ticked off at the blow off professor in my department. He thought he was being nice to students by letting them slide by doing absolutely nothing. I thought he was helping to ruin their live especially since they were journalism majors, and the courses he taught were supposed to teach them important skills in the field.</p>

<p>I don’t think that you have anything to be ashamed of since you didn’t write anything immature or make any personal attacks.</p>

<p>I think it would be kind of you to follow-up with the professor by stopping by and letting him know that you appreciate the support he gave you – including by writing recommendations – but you felt that his class was not demanding enough, and as a result you and the other students didn’t learn as much as you should have.</p>

<p>If he hears something like this from a student he respects, he may change his ways. Based on your post here and my own experiences with hard working students who really wanted to learn in the classes they were taking – I believe you would be able to convey this information to him in a way that would be kind while still making your points.</p>

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<p>you burned a bridge unprofessionally. Good job</p>

<p>Some professors grade in the likes that they know you understand the material rather than papers.</p>

<p>My diff eq exams the teacher didn’t count us off for simple math errors (we werent allowed calculators or notes), but as long as we knew what to do and how to do it, we got an A. Now was he a bad teacher? God no, he can do diff eq in the blink of an eye, he just understands students are busy with other work and gets that students makes mistakes</p>

<p>if you thought the class was too easy, you should of let him known in person about why you think so. You just came off sounding like a dousche instead.</p>

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<p>Thank you, Northstarmom!</p>

<p>Perhaps now I can quit fretting about this for a bit and get back to studying…</p>

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<p>Marc, let me clarify:</p>

<p>I don’t think the majority of the students who were awarded As got much out of the class. I think their poor papers reflected their lack of understanding, and still they were handed As. </p>

<p>These were not questions of simple errors. One of the papers I mentioned concerned how a certain English curse-word patterns. The student saw fit to use the word in a sentence unrelated to an example: “I had a great f__king time writing this paper” was included. </p>

<p>I hope that changes your mind.</p>

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<p>for upper division courses, i’m assuming jr and senior level courses, i doubt that holds any truth because no one would be that stupid to write that and expect to get away with it. Freshman class i understand, one might not take it seriously.</p>

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<p>What do you mean you “doubt that holds any truth”?</p>

<p>I’m dead serious, unfortunately. </p>

<p>This was a 400-level course, and a core requirement for our major. I actually got into something of a tiff with the guy after I almost yelled at him for writing something that dumb. Pretty sure he still submitted it. He was a real special one, that guy.</p>

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<p>unless you are in a class of something like elementary education/sociology/or any liberal arts of that sort, then people will take their classes seriously by the time they hit a 400 course.</p>

<p>There is a big reason why there are pre reqs, not only for students to be well prepared for the class, but also so the teachers can feel assured that they don’t have to babysit problem after problem</p>

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<p>how did he find out it was you?</p>

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<p>Never mind, Marc. I don’t see where you have any ground to stand on in arguing with me. What happened ACTUALLY occurred, hard as it is to believe. </p>

<p>Also, why would you make the statement that only liberal arts / education majors would blow off a 400-level course? What a silly, uninformed thing to say. </p>

<p>Your arguments are increasingly irrelevant.</p>

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<p>I mentioned something about the fact that he awarded me honors credit before I’d even submitted my assignments. Honors credit is supposed to be contingent on satisfactory completion of those assignments.</p>

<p>I had to wonder at that point if he’d even bothered to read them, or if I’d just toiled for three weeks only to have him acknowledge my papers before tossing them into the recycle bin.</p>

<p>I am a professional idiot for posting something that identifying on there.</p>

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<p>^^ because my roommate is an el ed and he does jack **** yet still maintains a 4.0.</p>

<p>writing “i had a great f’ing time writing this paper,” either the guy didnt give u the real copy, or its bs, because why would they risk their grade with a chance of failing?</p>

<p>sorry, this sounds like a “i want to show everyone i’m better than you” post because a 400 level class is too easy. Well, just because its a 400 level class doesn’t make it hard.</p>

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<p>Marc. Stop saying words and go do something more suited to your maturity / intelligence level - beer pong might be a solid place to start.</p>

<p>You’re making yourself look immensely stupid.</p>

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<p>Marc’s posts make my head hurt because they make no sense to me at all. </p>

<p>I think Northstarmom’s suggestion is best. There was no issue with your giving honest, mature feedback, but it would probably be best to mention it in person. Some professors DO go about with the intention of being easy to make students like them, but some are really unaware of how much effort the students are putting into the class and just underwork them.</p>

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<p>Hahaha imagine if your professor found your CC post too! I mean, plenty of professors visit this site, it is about college :slight_smile:

This made me laugh, thanks :P</p>

<p>But yeah, NorthStar said it best and I wouldn’t stew over it if I were you. At least you were civil and not immature. But I’d refrain from asking him anymore favors</p>

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<p>I’m just confused as to how he knew it was you. RMP is anonymous.</p>

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<p>im a senior in chem engineering and doing damn good at it. You sound like a tool. Your worrying about other peoples grade other than your own. Why do you care if you know people got A’s in the class? </p>

<p>Also, like other people posted. How can the professor know you written stuff on ratemyprofessor.com? You do realize it is anonymous. </p>

<p>Why would a kid be stupid enough to write “this paper is f’ing fun to write.” Is he ■■■■■■■■? they would either not give a **** about their grade or they just written that as a joke and never turned in that copy.</p>

<p>A class is easy for you, good for you, its an easy A. Why would you be complaining about it. If you want to learn more on the subject there is a thing called the internet. You learn a lot more on your own than you will in a class room.</p>

<p>Why would a professor look at ratemyprofessor anyways? Most people that write them are typically the angry students that didn’t do well in their class or loved them. They already hand out surveys at the end of the semester to see how they did.</p>

<p>There is a lot of things in that story that makes you sound like a tool, or a liar.</p>

<p>And atomic, every enter is a new train of thought. Its not that hard, many people post the same way.</p>

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<p>To be honest, you sound like a ******. You’d rather see other people fail so that you can feel better about your accomplishments. </p>

<p>You said that youre “pretty sure” that the guy sent in that assignment. Pretty sure is not the same as sure. He could have erased it at the last second. </p>

<p>Stop crying about what others do and worry about yourself.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>You paid to learn. Your degree is only worth $XXX,XXX because employers believe you gained something while earning the degree.</p>

<p>Once easy classes become the norm, your degree doesn’t demonstrate jack ****. There’s no longer any work ethic or learning required in class.</p>

<p>Easy classes and grade inflation only hurts alumni–especially recent alumni. Your college’s caliber and reputation take a hit every time a professor hands out A’s. Not to mention that you’re gaining 0 skills. </p>

<p>If you want to learn primarily from “the internet,” then go surf wiki instead of attending a university.</p>

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<p>why do you think employers hire with experience over degree? </p>

<p>easy classes and grade inflation does not hurt alumni, why? Because the alumni got experience to get them the job they would like, and if the current student didn’t care enough to learn anything, well congrats on being fired shortly after they find you clueless.</p>