We did our last two class evaluations today. In one class with a somewhat, shall we say, not uniformly well-liked professor, I happened to see a sheet dropped in that had the lowest possible marks in every category. Now, this professor had his flaws, to be sure, but that's just ice cold.

I ended up giving him decent marks, because empirically he had a lot of good qualities as an instructor. He just had these occasional in-class freak-outs that were incomprehensible. Imagine dating someone with looks, brains and humor, but who belched loudly whenever you were out in public. While no one expects perfection, certain flaws can be dealbreakers all by themselves.

But what really is the purpose of the evaluation anyhow? These people have tenure. We can't exactly vote them off the island. It's like telling a fat person, hey dude you're fat. Yeah, no kidding. After a while teachers know very well what their strengths & weaknesses are. What is the incentive for a tenured teacher to get any better at their craft?

I know, professors are selected for other reasons besides their pedagogical ability. Still, I can't really think of any other pocket of work culture in america that features lifetime appointments, and the only basis for discipline or dismissal is a gross breach of ethics or dereliction of duty.

29 Nov 04