Hello,
this is the first essay I post on the forum and I would really appreciate if someone could make some comments on it?
Thanks for your help.
Frank.
Is it important for students to evaluate their teachers?
Without any doubt, grades and evaluations are constantly evolving subjects when it comes to education. Concerns have already been raised about the influence of grades on students and evaluations could be discussed, as well. On first thinking, it seems to be a surprising idea to let students evaluate their teachers as this would reverse the existing roles. Still, after describing the pros and cons of this proposal, I will state that this could somehow be a profitable idea, provided that those evaluations are performed cautiously.
First, there’s strong evidence that such evaluations have to be very carefully implemented. Indeed, as teaching to students necessitates authority and mutual respect, one could argue that both requirements wouldn’t exist if a teacher were to have bad grades. With poor evaluations, a teacher would have its back against the wall in his classroom. Moreover, who could prevent a student from having his revenge if he’s not satisfied with his grades? Evaluating someone demands fairness and experience, and attempts that have been made so far have been less than successful.
Then, one could also consider that, for a teacher, having such feedback from his students is a powerful way to improve the quality of his course. Not only could this deeply improve communication in the classroom, but also strongly develop the students’ sense of criticism. Furthermore, it would make students understand how insanely difficult it is to judge someone if one wants to be fair.
Next, I think such a process could be put in place only if shaped a different way from the evaluation of students by their teachers. Grades are not suitable, as they give too much power on the teacher to the students. My opinion is that those evaluations have to be strictly framed, in order to allow students remarks to be taken into account without debasing the teacher’s authority.
Finally, In my opinion, this experiment could could be extremely beneficial. On the condition that the process and scope of the evaluation are precisely delineated, this feedback from students could dramatically improve the quality of the courses and facilitate the communication between teachers and students.
TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture on the history of the English language