We are approaching that wonderful/dreadful time of the semester once again: teacher evaluation submissions are open. You have until midnight on Dec. 8 to submit the evaluations. For all you freshmen out there, you might not have understood the double adjective in the first sentence, so I’ll explain it.
If you submit all of your teacher evaluations, you get to view your final grades before everyone who fails to submit them. That sounds like a great thing until you log into your MyOleMiss account and realize how time-consuming and inconvenient it seemingly is.
These teacher evaluation submissions are about more than just the few extra hours you receive to view your final grades. This is about the future of your university. Here’s my advice to everyone who feels that lazy urge to check whatever box you see first without accurately evaluating your professors: Don’t let yourself fall into that trap.
The University of Mississippi is a wonderful academic institution that has increased its regional and national stock over the past few years. The Patterson School of Accountancy’s three degree programs are ranked in the top ten nationally. This year’s freshman class holds an institutional record with an average ACT score of 23.8 and a high school GPA of 3.43. Ole Miss was ranked by Forbes as a top 20 “best buy college” in America. Our application numbers and enrollment numbers continue to increase drastically each year.
It might not feel like it this week, but we are not here for the last-minute assignments of each semester or even football: We are here for a great education. Believe it or not, teacher evaluations are an extremely important tool in helping to continue our upward academic trajectory.
When you submit teacher evaluations without any thought, it not only hurts the education of your peers and future students at Ole Miss but the university itself. Teacher evaluations are for deans and department heads to hear from you and make management decisions for the future.
It’s so easy to mark “10” or “0” for every single evaluation in order to get it done. I know because I have done it. In hindsight, I regret it. Maybe an honest, thoughtful teacher evaluation could have initiated a conversation between a department head and the faculty member that I had a couple problems with. Maybe that conversation could have prevented future problems that I already experienced.
When you fill them out, be honest. Barring an emotional instance when you burst into a dean’s office uninvited and complain irrationally, you probably will not get the chance to let the university know how your professors perform in the classroom. If you aren’t too fond of a particular professor, you get to burn them. If you love a certain professor and think they walk on water, express yourself. In either instance, you will feel great afterwards (for any of my current or past professors reading this, have fun trying to figure out which end of the gauntlet you fell with me … kidding).
I am not one to preach and I certainly don’t want to tell you how to live your lives, but this advice is important. Think about it. It boils down to your love for the university and its future. Please do your part in helping the university continue to grow.
Adam Ganucheau is a senior journalism major from Hazlehurst, Mississippi.
-Adam Ganucheau
dmeditor@gmail.com
