Besides, it's hilarious reading. My wife was just perusing it herself, and she's a prof, too. She likes looking up all the people we know to see what students are saying about them, and believe me, students can be very funny sometimes. One student wrote that he would rather castrate himself with a plastic knife than sit through another class with a certain person I happen to know--not me, I assure you, though I'm certain many of my own students feel the same way.
But my wife did draw my attention to my latest evaluation:
A real loser who needs to get his head out of his butt. Rates himself way too highly.Meow!! You can't beat that for catty precision, Mister! The class he is "rating" here: "loser101". At least he was enrolled in the right course. [Cue: rimshot.]
Oh well. Everybody's a critic. My wife once got an evaluation that described her Latin class as "a rollercoaster ride through hell". I've always been very jealous of that one: my evaluations have been very boring for nearly 10 years. Until this one kid came along to trash me by submitting multiple negative reviews to Ratemyprofessor.com I never had much to laugh at in my evaluations. I'm assuming he got the grade he deserved, since the folks who pass my classes usually don't think I'm all that bad, and their high opinion of me shows in their kind but prosaic evaluations.
On a more general note, it can be very interesting to see what strikes a student about a particular class. I once had a student describe me as a homophobe because in my class on ancient Greek philosophy I discussed the way Aristophanes portrayed homosexuals in his plays. Aristophanes was not a master of subtle humor, and I suppose the kid must have confused what Aristophanes said with what I thought. In a class of 10 weeks of intensive study of the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle on matters of ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology, this is what he took away from the experience: the professor's a homophobe. Well, I'll have that guy know that I scored as a "high-grade non-homophobe" on the online Homophobia Quiz. So there.
On the other hand, according to the Tomorrowland Sportscar Quiz I'm a
Corvette!
At least some people appreciate my fine detailing.
Now, don't tell Kathy Hutchins over at Gathering Goat Eggs, but I was able to make an honest score of
at Quizilla. I'm not really sure how that happened, as I'm really more the Hobbitish type, especially when it comes to beer and single malts. None of that fancy-pants cordial stuff for me, man. Unless it's Drambuie, now there's a cordial for a man, laddie!
Can you tell that it's the end of the fourth week of classes and I'm gearing up for some midterm grading? I hope you can. I especially hope that if you're one of my students and you're reading this instead of getting ready for those midterms. You don't want to wind up like some loser who posts sour-grape reviews at Ratemyprofessor.com, do you? You'd much rather put me in for a chili pepper, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Come on, man, I'm desperate here!! I'll give you a ride in my Corvette....
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