student evaluations

[Mark Lause <lause@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To be real, student evaluations should be given to people a year later (or
maybe as they are graduating) and only to those who actually attended the
class.  I never recognized my best teachers as such until after I had gone
beyond them. About a fifth of my roster is never there.  Maybe another fifth
attend only at the start and the finish of a class, and another fifth only once
a week, whether they need to or not.  How can they answer anything
intelligently about how the class works?

Years ago, a clique of M.A.s in my department jettisoned the first Ph.D. among
them on the grounds of low student evaluations.  (They weren't really low, but
were relatively lower because this guy actually required students to do work
and didn't use hand puppets.)  After he was dismissed, he made his point by
starting class five minues late, letting them go ten  minutes early, telling
stories rather than teaching, not giving any tests, etc.  His student
evaluations became the highest in the institution.

Without use alongside other tools, evaluations displace the most qualified
evaluators...other teachers...with some of the least qualified.  They become a
public relations gimmick...a presidential approval rating...a cheap example of
fetishized statistics that mean nothing..

Best,
Mark L.


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