Editor,

I just finished reading Anna Elledge's article "Rate my picture" in
the Nov. 30, 2006 Xpress. I was surprised to see no mention of the
pros and cons of the web site itself. For example: Pro: it lets you
see what students feel about a particular professor's teaching. Con:
It has no authentication to see if the person commenting was really
enrolled in the teacher's course or not. For all we know, the
comments could be supplied by the teacher him/herself under a
pseudonym or by an enemy who has a grudge against him/her.

What is the deal with the photo? It's not as though it's a dating
service. If any of the professors are dating their students, well,
that's another matter ....

I think you should do a more thorough examination of
Ratemyprofessor.com and see how easy it is to stuff the ballot box,
if you know what I mean.

I think that students should have some kind of peer-referral for
evaluations of teachers. However, I don't think this particular web
site is the way to do it.
-- Mitch Turitz, Librarian