www.ratemyteachers.ie

by Nick - None Tue Sep 19, 2006 03:23

Rate my teacher is in principle a great idea. I had one or two rather awful teachers while I was in school, people who really had neither vocation nor interest in the job and shouldn't have been doing it. I sincerely believe that some of my poor mark in one or two subjects can in part be attributed to the awful, boring methods which were used to impart same. The tragedy of it was that since no one spotted these teachers, no one thought to take them aside and give them some help on methodology which might even have made their own jobs more bearable, so both teacher and student suffered needlessly. I can see how some malicious pupils might use the site as a means to post unfair comments on some teachers, but having seen the site myself, it doesn't really seem to be the case at present. A useful spin off idea might be a 'ratemy students/ classmates' site, where teachers and students could comment on their students / classmates, a valuable feedback for parents who might like to know of their offsrpings' attendance, progress, levels of interest etc., Just as 'ratemy teacher' has been partly designed with weeding out poor teachers in mind, so a 'rate my students/ classmates' site would help weed out disruptive and bullying students, and so allow the rest of the class get on with their eductaion while the troublesome students get the help they need.

by mgt Mon Sep 18, 2006 21:47

So, Miriam, you don't "hold with untrue things being posted on the site" but feel that teachers "brought it on themselves". Well, the fact is VERY untrue things, and vicious things, and things which no adult identifying themselves could say ARE posted every day on the site. Do you think this is morally wrong or not? As for "bringing it on themselves" this is the cruel logic of blaming the victim for making the wrong call, reading the cues wrong, wearing the wrong skirt. Yes teachers got it wrong on many occasions, but the appalling feeding frenzy where parents and the so-called responsible media egg on our children to jeer at their teachers with impunity while hiding behind their anonymity, is not an edifying spectacle. These teachers have children too, they have loved ones, they have feelings, they may even, dammit, be doing their best in an appallingly difficult job. Read some of the comments: "Thank God she had a miscarriage and was out a few weeks. What a saddo. Can't even get that right"
There is a bitter irony in the po-faced moral posturing of newspapers whose ONLY concern is their own profits at the recent spate of pupil-to-pupil bullying on Bebo and other teenage sites. We must close down these sites, they fulminate. Kids are actually BULLYING each other, the innocent darlings. Teachers, who see and deal with the appalling cruelty of kids to each other on a daily basis see the true evil of these sites. Having been encouraged by newspapers to bully their teachers, it was only natural that kids would develop an appetite for the next fix: posting cruel untrue jibes about their peers on the web, driving the sensitive to breakdown, or worse. You have let the genie out of the bottle, too late to put it back in. Yes, Miriam, our public bodies need to be held accountable, but, remember, it is so easy to destroy respect and reputation, of an individual as of doctors, teachers, Garda. Once gone, it can not be restored. Who then will teach, civilize, bind the wounds of the feral, drunken kids we see in our estates every day( and who are in our classrooms every day beside the special needs kid and next to the kid who wants an A in Hons Chemistry) and who will comfort or shield their victims? Who will continue to care?

by Miriam Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:41

While most people wont hold with posting untrue things about teachers, the fact is the teaching profession brought it on themselves. There was also the judgment of the Irish courts which ruled that 'it was not in the public interest' for there to be school league tables and other forms of feedback about how the teaching profession does its job.

The closed world of the profession needs to be bust wide open. At the moment we are ordered by law to hand our children over to them from 4 til 18 years, no questions asked. The autonomy of the individual teaching professional is like a sacred cow about which even beginning to think of asking questions is an affront. They treat government, parents and other professionals as if they were all children in a classroom who ought to be sitting in their rows, obediently. Anyone who has attended a parent teach meeting will know that it is not at all an opportunity to truly discuss strategies for helping children. You are told what is happening a very superficial way in many instances and while some teachers welcome suggestions and questions about how you might help, others are horrified by that. There are many good schools and many dedicated teachers. But equally there are lots about which the opposite can be said, and it really needs saying. We've all paid the price of not saying it at one time or another.

Tteachers are people doing one of many important jobs - no more significant than that, but the profession doesn’t see it like that at all. It still has a massive superiority complex. As parents, we have a legitimate interest - an obligation even - to ensure that they are teaching our children appropriately and are responsive to the individual child as much as possible.

An Education Training Officer (i.e. responsible for professional development of qualified teachers) told me that I could not say to a group of teachers that there was a lot about special needs teaching that many of them might not understand because it is not a part of their basic training. 'It may be true' he said 'but you cant speak to teachers like that'. 'You have to come at it differently because they will be offended by any statement like that'. Talk about precious.

Meanwhile the children affected by the profession's ignorance on the subject of special needs are a secondary consideration. Many resource teachers approach special needs children with an identical approach to that used in the main classroom. They just do it more slowly. No account is taken of the different ways in which many SN children learn. They refuse to play to their strengths and often insist on hammering away at weaknesses which the child cannot get around. Result: a miserable and unhappy school experience which makes children believe they are stupid and constantly reminds them of their difference and an abject failure to teach the child what she was capable of learning.

One size fits all is an approach that undermines many children, not just special needs and it is amazing that as parents and as a society, we go on and on accepting this model of education. We need something more sophisticated than the crowd control model. It needs root and branch reform and the place to begin, imo, is by knocking down the doors to the profession's clubs: the teaching unions. Like all professional clubs (legal, medical, etc) there is a certain amount of concern for maintaining good pactice but most of their efforts seem to go into pursuing the professions own interests rather than the eudcation of children. All professions have long been totally out of control in this regard and they are particularly arrogant and didactic in Ireland. We defer to them all far too easily. They investigate and monitor themselves and the right wing state has a vested interest in keeping it that way because when you start to talk about ensuring accountability and best practice, you are talking about spending all the money - our taxes - which is wanted to line the pockets of the already stinking rich. The teaching profession is very powerful and is not afraid to use its clout to damage the interests of political parties, either. My Monday morning soapbox contribution.

by Chris Murray - rate my ass Mon Sep 18, 2006 00:57

Since when did education become a business?

I thought that it was a way of opening a world of imagination to a child, next we
will hear that school boards won't accept nominations for management unless
the nominee is willing to uphold the catholic ethos....

education as a business is dangerously close to the PD model of commidifaction of
the individual. we all had shit teachers, one of mine put three disected rats in a fridge full of
souffles and another could not stop touching her breasts and talking about Salome's
'ripeness' and another spent quite an amount of time inspecting if we were wearing the
correct gym knickers under our very short mini's.
and making us run around hockey pitches if we did not. they are fragile creatures.

by margaret - TUI Mon Sep 18, 2006 00:27

Ratemyteacher is often compared to ongoing evaluation and feedback in private sector. But all such feedback is given privately and by adults who could be sued for bullying if their language etc was inappropriate. Compare that to a publicly accessed website where teachers spouses, children, enemies can read personal, sexist, anonymous abuse about a named teacher. (forget monitoring, have you read the comments? One teacher who had recently died was referred to as "no loss, such a sad loser, a waste of space, with a funny smell". Try reading that about the life and carreer of someone you love, respect and are grieving for, and then tell me about children being customers and having the same rights as adults, we're all consumers now...blah..blah.) This site is a disgrace, a betrayal of our duty as adults to guide our children, one of many such betrayals in our shallow Celtic Tiger culture where we know the price of everything and the value of nothing.. Shame on you.

by Dan Folsom Wed Nov 02, 2005 04:33

Ratings of 0 don't exist, sorry buddy why don't u look at the site

by Biz Sat Aug 13, 2005 17:10

I have browsed through this site and found loads of highly insulting and peronal comments. So much for site moderation.

Some people have tried to defend this trash on the grounds of "free speech". Anonymous comments with no right to reply is not my definition of free speech !

This is potentially damaging to our education system and should be banned.

by indifreedom Mon Jun 13, 2005 09:14 indifreedom at eircom dot net

... so that we can excuse such behaviour..

Has anyone else received such attachments coming from what looks like the ratemyteachers.com domain?

Warning 1

Warning 2

by toneore Mon Jun 13, 2005 03:40 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0613/3271362038HM1PROFESSOR.html

With the Irish Times in the lead for whipping up the hysteria: ratemyprofessors.ie

by toneore Fri Jun 10, 2005 17:59 toneore at eircom dot net

ratemytd.com - very useful.

by jchammer-dublin3 - none Fri Jun 10, 2005 17:03 jjcoyle77 at yahoo dot co dot uk leitrim 0860614476

paul get a life this site is good craic dont be so wishywashy

by Al Thu Apr 28, 2005 01:50

I think ratemygarda would be a popular site but not very fair.

by Helen Wed Apr 27, 2005 01:01

Your readers might be interested to know that "ratemyteachers" website belongs to a company that owns a range of similar sites such as "ratemyanimal" etc.
The company which owns this site -"ratemyteachers"- which portrays itself as offering such a marvellous opportunity to students and parents to rate their teachers in an anonymous manner, also owns a website containing offensive pornographic images.
Did all you parents, moderators and administrators know that?

This pornographic site advertises further similar sites. When the pornographic site is clicked to close, there is a residual advertisement offering more of the same.

So much for the company's concern for students, this hypocrisy is incredible when it owns such a website which can be accessed by people of any age, and that of course, includes young students.

Naturally anyone with a small bit of a brain
should realise that the primary motive of these websites is money--from advertising,
and they have found a novel way of doing it for the present.
I wonder how long a website would last if it was called "Ratemypupil", or "Ratemypupil's parents", or how about "Ratemy garda"? Not for very long I would imagine.

by JohnJoe Tue Apr 19, 2005 01:06 mondobo at eloha dot com 0874876985

Hey Patrick.........I noticed there was some cancession to the failing implied by your reference to anonymiity........could you pursue this a bit further and answer the above question : How would parents ( or you feel) " ........if teachers were anonymously giving the rundown on their students online? That is naming them, for example rating their performance, attitude and yes even hygiene ( whether or not it all can be be verified as true.... Im sure some moderators would be reasonable with acceptable moral standards ....... but face it, there can be no moral justification for backbiting which is really what this site is about, and you are promoting it.

by Al Thu Apr 14, 2005 21:46

Im not in agreement with this as I believe it is unfair to have the teachers names but not the posters, whats to be afraid of? Im also concerned about unfair ratings, suppose a little git of a student just keeps slating the teacher unfairly?
Having said all that I visited my old school (Didnt rate) and tend to agree with whats being said for the teachers I had. Clearly some of the psots are from genuine students. As long as a tight control over the site is kept it seems safe enough.

by too fed up to check my (teacher) ratings Wed Apr 13, 2005 23:31

mybankmanager.ie, ratemylandlord.ie

If teachers must work in a goldfishbowl then so should their betters

teachers know a lot about websites

wink wink

valley of the squinting windows by popular demand

**********************
13/04/05

Website ‘grading’ teachers is used to bully students, says ASTI
By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent
A WEBSITE causing uproar because pupils are “grading” teachers on it, is also being used to bully students, according to a teachers’ union.
In a letter sent to hundreds of second-level schools, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has told members it is pursuing the operator of the ratemyteachers.ie site.
The website contains comments from students on teachers’ performances, which has infuriated school staff countrywide.
The union has been advised that a teacher who is defamed on the site can take legal action against the operator, the host company, the internet service provider and the person who posted the material.
The 16,500-member union has not made any public comment on the site since it was first highlighted last month. But the letter to ASTI school stewards says the website is inappropriate and unacceptable.




“In addition to the fact that members are being targeted and abused, we are aware that non-teachers - including children - are being named as teachers on the website and then being targeted by website users,” wrote ASTI general secretary John White and president Susie Hall.
A teacher whose personal appearance was referred to on the site told 2FM’s Gerry Ryan Show that students’ names were being added to teacher lists by classmates.
“They can actually put a student’s name up there and make him or her a victim of abuse, which is very sinister,” said the caller, Annie.
She said she had to take the day off school because she was so hurt by comments about her clothes and appearance and has said she will no longer take part in extracurricular activities.
“We are just punching bags for students, I’m just sick and tired of being a punching bag. It’s open season on teachers and I’m not going to stand for it,” she said.
The site allows students to grade their teachers based on easiness, helpfulness and clarity, providing an overall quality rating out of five. But some comments caused huge concern, particularly in relation to teachers’ looks or personal lives.
The website claims it has received more than 264,000 ratings of almost 30,000 teachers in 1,262 schools. But its rules say any comments which are sexual in nature, or refer to a teacher’s physical appearance or personal life will be deleted.
ASTI has told members it is pursuing the US-based operator on the basis that content is in breach of this usage policy. The union has told the company there is defamatory material on the site and that legal action can be taken against them under Irish law.
However, legal experts say it would be extremely difficult to claim damages from a company which has no assets here. While an Irish court could make an order for damages arising from defamation, any such order would be almost impossible to execute.
Education Minister Mary Hanafin criticised the site last month, and said every student would complain if their teacher put their reports on the internet.

Article after stars From examiner

by H.dip - teacher Tue Apr 12, 2005 22:51

as a h dip student teacher at present i seriously wanted to become a teacher starting off this year.

As a result of what i have seen on this site i have decided not to go teaching and have allready secured another job in IT for next year when i am qualified. The pay is much better than teaching and i know i will enjoy this job immensly. This is a mere chatroom for negative abuse to be thrown at teachers which takes on a new kind of low.

So "bitchy" has this site got that pupils who had a personal issue with me have deleted good reports about me and posted more of a very personal nature which are of absolutely no relevence to teaching and learning issues. I could if i wanted delete some of the totally absurd claims.. but i refuse to be taken to a new low myself by feeding into this hatred and bitterness. I just feel sorry for the teachers every day who taught all their lives and who made such a positive impact in so many lives that they have to have personal issues aired in public which are of no relevence to teaching. I am glad i can get out now while i can.

However saying that i know myself there are some horrendous teachers out there, i was the victim of one or two. To be honest i think i could only say one. there was only one teacher ever in my experience who made absolutely no effort ever and should have been sacked. There are ways and means of doing this and this ridiculous website is not the way. if students and parents put their energies into more teacher inspection then we would have something productive.

No way would I ever go teaching..

by R. Isible Wed Apr 06, 2005 02:23

Kyle,

The rating of teachers by students is a meaningless exercise in anything but popularity. Teachers can probably only be judged by their students years after they've had time to understand how they learn and what they learnt.

The exercise of a public invitation to cast aspersions or plaudits is simply a cynical exercise to indulge the resentment or love often felt by students for teachers.

It has little educational, pedagogical or informative value.

I hated some of my best teachers and would have rated them poorly on this site given a chance. That would have done nothing except insult and depress them. Similarly there are some teachers that I liked that I now realise were merely pandering to us.

Even more importantly there were teachers who taught me lessons that I didn't even realise they had taught me until over a decade later.

The Irish Education system in general produces highly literate, numerate and well-rounded students. It is doubtful that RateMyTeachers, conceived and birthed as it is in the foetid loins of the USA, has anything to offer Ireland apart from its paid advertising which goes to feather the pockets of the company behind this scam.

If ever I saw Jerry Springer meets The Dead Poets Society this is it.

Your own post in defence of Davis (who really is not the issue here) is a testament to the low quality of American education: it's replete with misquotation, poor spelling and a disquieting appeal to authority.

I shudder to think of you as a teacher's aide.

There are problems with teachers that are incompetent or unsuited to the job, but a public witchhunt is not the way to deal with them.

Keep your site and keep your broken education system.

by Kyle Peavley Wed Apr 06, 2005 01:12 butler at standonline dot org (513)-988-1985

As to this comment: "Let's add Nancy L Davis as a teacher and give her a crap rating. You want feedback Davis? You've got it.

Just look at the state of American eduction you silly, silly woman.

Btw, has anyone else noticed how they've moderated the site to remove members of religious orders in case they're sued for libel?"

I will respond with: Nancy is really not a bad person, and the site is a benifit to teachers. The majority of the ratings on the site are positive, and very nice... Teachers should realize that this site can help them to improve in their teachings.

Like my old math teacher for example. She used to let her students teach the class on a daily basis. She would select two students, and she thought it would allow students to be taught by other students and they would benifit from it, and look forward to coming to class. I now aide for her, and she said she read it in a teaching magazine and people loved it so she tried it... What she didn't realize is the students she selected some didn't know what they were teaching so if they don't know the material they will teach it wrong and everyone will not get it then when it comes time for the homework and tests we failed them and did them all wrong. So she realized that selecting kids that volunteered to teach for the day wasn't a good idea by looking at the site, and seeing that almost everyone hated that so she changed her ways now everyone likes her... So I mean it really is a good thing to get critisism. People need to "Learn to accept corrective critisim"

I mean really this site is mostly positive, but the ratings that do say things the teachers should look at and try to correct. They should be able to realize that this is a good thing, not a bad thing...

Although Nancy isn't a silly women. She really does care or she wouldn't work so hard to make this site what it is today. She deserves respect from you guys, and support for what she does... As to rating her badly. I'm sure if you actually had her, and didn't like her teachings she would read your corrective critisism, and try to improve on what she does wrong, because some people can realize that it's not a bad thing to give corrective critisism.. Although you guys really should consider looking at this site differently then how you are currently, and not to insult the people who work hard to maintain it to make it what it is.

by Patrick Kavanagh Fri Apr 01, 2005 01:50

Oh, and, by the way. It's not my site, it's run in California, I'm just an administrator. Get your facts straight first before you go ranting about "a load of bollocks"!

by Patrick Kavanagh Fri Apr 01, 2005 01:48

Your site is a load of bollocks. I looked up my old school -the only teacher listed was the best one in the whole school and he got a zero.

When I was in school, i disliked all of my teachers, as did most people in my class but it wasn't til we left that we realised that it was unfair. Kids hate their teachers when they get in trouble for not doing their homework etc, so most of the time people giving the teachers a bad rating will be for bogus reasons.

The teachers have no way of responding because students can do it anonymously. And teaching is a very stressful job, so you are submitting them to even more stress. An above poster is right, this is the "justice" of the mob, of the village court, of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

In short, Mr Kavanagh its a load of bollocks. Go do something useful for a change.

--------------------------------------

I don't think the ratings will be for bogus reasons, I know myself that one bad incident with a teacher doesn't make you hate them. I exercise good judgement when reviewing the ratings because I know the difference between an opinion and an unfair flogging.

And in response to your immature "load of bollocks" and "something useful for a change" comments, whatever. It's free speech and I think it helps people. I like to see if I'm the only one who is having trouble with a certain teacher.

And as for your school only having one teacher on it with a rating of zero, it has one teacher on it simply because no one from your school has been on it (lack of word of mouth) and the teacher can't have a rating of zero because that is not possible! 1 is the lower limit.

by Big Irish from the USA Sun Mar 27, 2005 04:17

This is yet another US import - indymedia needs to position this site as part of the overall globalization of US values - students are NOT consumers. They are NOT customers. Education is a RIGHT, not a product that's bought and sold like in the US to the highest bidde. Given that they're tracking IP addresses, it's also very sinister.

The basic problem with these RateMyTeachers people is that: a) they assume that the constitutional protection afforded by the US First Amendment will apply to Ireland. It doesn't. And yes, you can be sued in another country. - ask ebay, and b) they're under the impression that Ireland's educational system is the same as the US system where students can choose what classes to take - y'know, chooise between Hip Hop Studies, Mathematics, and Skateboarding Fashion... it's different in Ireland where there's a set curriculum.

Btw, you can't track my IP number, it's masked with a dynamically allocated randomizer, so I've been logging away goodo for weeks now undetected...!
So much for your data integrity.

YAH BOO SUCKS!


Here's an article on RMT which admits that the system is full of flaws.


Be-RateMyTeachers.com

By BILL STAMATIS
RateMyTeachers.com (www.ratemyteachers.com) has caused consternation among middle and high school teachers in the United States and Canada. While they agree in principle with their students’ rights to freedom of speech, some teachers find it difficult to swallow students’ negative opinions about their teaching posted on this Web site. Every week some unhappy teacher threatens to sue the site’s owners.

RateMyTeachers.com, online since August 2001, is affiliated with RateMyProfessors.com (www.ratemyprofessors.com), where college students can offer "a public review (and sometimes public flogging) of university professors from across the United States and Canada." It’s been online since 1999.

The concept is simple. Offer a place on the Internet for students to anonymously post their positive (approximately 60 percent of the comments) or negative opinions about teachers so that other students can make informed decisions about the classes that they plan to take.

That may work for college and some high school students, but few, if any, middle and junior high schoolers have the same degree of choice. Yet the owners of the site say that students are the "customers" of teachers/schools/administrators - "and we believe they absolutely have a right to voice their opinions."

Teacher ratings are based on three qualities: easiness, helpfulness and clarity. The "Overall Quality" rating does not include the "easiness" category because, the authors say, too many students base their program choices on the "difficulty" of the teacher. Therefore, the Overall Quality measure is the average of the teacher’s helpfulness and clarity ratings. The ratings are expressed in numbers and by various smiley faces.

The UFT has received several complaints from teachers who believe they were the victims of unfair, if not libelous, criticism on RateMyTeachers.com. They questioned the site’s legality or complained that they received negative ratings from a few disgruntled students and, therefore, their ratings didn’t reflect a wide enough sample of opinion. Some suspected that their colleagues (or administrators) had posed as students and wrote the negative reviews.

Nancy Davis, one of the owners and operators of the site, said via e-mail that RateMyTeachers.com has had more problems with teachers slamming one another than with students writing negative remarks about teachers.

"Data integrity is a priority for us," says Davis. She points out that they run a database cleanup program every week and have software that recognizes multiple ratings from the same person (from the same computer) for the same teacher that prevents the "piling up" of positive or negative reviews.

In addition, Davis adds, there is a "red flag" preceding each rating with a comment. "This, in essence, gives everyone some degree of control over the ratings. Anyone can click that red flag and send a comment back for another review if they feel it is inappropriate," she says.

The site administrators claim to be scrupulous at blocking libelous material. The terms of use include an explicit list of "do’s and don’ts" (http://ratemyteachers.com/About.jsp). For instance all comments will be deleted that:

* contain vulgar or profane words;
* are threatening;
* are sexual in nature - including "sexy" or "hot";
* have to do with physical appearance;
* are name-calling (jerk, creep, etc.);
* insinuate or state mental/alcohol/ drug use or problems; l insinuate or state problems with the law (like "He is out on probation now");
* have to do with race, religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, age or are otherwise libelous.

The UFT tried to determine whether there was a legal basis to prevent the site from reviewing teachers. NYSUT [the UFT’s statewide affiliate] attorney Paul Janis wrote that since the Web site is completely outside the school setting, it has full constitutional protection. But, in NY-SUT’s opinion, teachers are not public figures and could prevail in a suit that claims they were defamed by statements of facts which are untrue. "However," he adds, "opinion is protected from libel laws. Since the Web site deals with opinions, not facts, it is constitutionally protected."

But if this is a problem in your school, you might consider asking your network administrator to block access to the site from school computers, although the students could still use a computer at home. Of course, then your school will be added to the Web site’s "Wall of Shame" that lists all the schools and districts that have blocked access.

Otherwise, there’s isn’t much more you can do except go with the flow and accept the fact that not everyone is going to like you or be compatible with your teaching style. One teacher observed that the ratings are similar to those on other Internet-based rating bureaus, suggesting that in order to get a more balanced view, students should be required to post an opinion, so that the site isn’t dominated by the rants of disgruntled students.

by indymedia watch Sun Mar 27, 2005 04:04 indifreedom at eircom dot net

Let's add Nancy L Davis as a teacher and give her a crap rating. You want feedback Davis? You've got it.

Just look at the state of American eduction you silly, silly woman.

Btw, has anyone else noticed how they've moderated the site to remove members of religious orders in case they're sued for libel?

by toneore Sun Mar 27, 2005 03:48 toneore at eircom dot net

I love this site. I spent all morning posting brilliant ratings for teachers in 10 schools I didn't even attend. Just watch this one fall apart .... heh heh....

by hedge Sat Mar 26, 2005 18:17

is going to blame the teachers.
http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=9&si=70400
and not the parents or the miserable examples in public life, or even the video games, drugs, mobile telephones, constant blogging, and utter utter shite of it all.
= crucify a teacher today. (you're not too late)

by hedge school Fri Mar 18, 2005 13:35

?
they could in the Ford villages of model American christian wholesome social engineering.
Thank Ford!
If the kids weren't wholesome enough, or if they germs hadn't been bleached from the kitchen, the dads lost their jobs.
Thank Ford!

by Patrick Kavanagh Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:36

There is a section for parents' ratings on every page on the site.

by eeekkkk Thu Mar 17, 2005 21:14

Billmon has the details: see link

by Paul McDermot Thu Mar 17, 2005 13:44

Your site is a load of bollocks. I looked up my old school -the only teacher listed was the best one in the whole school and he got a zero.

When I was in school, i disliked all of my teachers, as did most people in my class but it wasn't til we left that we realised that it was unfair. Kids hate their teachers when they get in trouble for not doing their homework etc, so most of the time people giving the teachers a bad rating will be for bogus reasons.

The teachers have no way of responding because students can do it anonymously. And teaching is a very stressful job, so you are submitting them to even more stress. An above poster is right, this is the "justice" of the mob, of the village court, of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

In short, Mr Kavanagh its a load of bollocks. Go do something useful for a change.

by advertising agent / football recruiter / model spotter - lonely eccentric pop star friend finder... Thu Mar 17, 2005 09:25

you don't need to read and write.

-

by Dr. F - Fluxus Labs Thu Mar 17, 2005 06:09 flxuslabs at gmail dot com

>>>"What's next? Performance Related Pay? Yikes!"



LOL!!!! Welcome to the real world. Scary, eh? but for the fools...

by eeeekkkkk Thu Mar 17, 2005 01:08

Total Ratings 13,831
Total Teachers 5,404
Total Schools 508
Ratings Yesterday 3,328
ratings Tomorrah?

Do Not Pass Go Little Brother

by eeekkk Thu Mar 17, 2005 01:07

  Michael Murray, principal of Traverse City Central, disagrees. He feels that since students throughout high school choose their courses - but not their teachers - the students' ratings can offer no constructive information for other students and therefore serve little purpose.
      "We don't allow personal attacks on our personnel," Murray said. "And we try to deal with relationships between teachers and students on a one-to-one basis."
      Murray also was concerned about the damage a negative comment could have on a teacher's professional reputation.
      "Teachers should never be rated in public without a chance to respond," he said. "These are not statistically valuable samplings. Our methods of collecting and processing information for internal evaluations have more value to us."
      Murray added that professional affirmation comes from more traditional means, in the form of Teacher of the Year nominations by students as well as community awards and recognition.
      Despite the controversy, Hussey plans to continue the Web site and even expand it internationally.
      "I also would like to expand the site so parents could rate their kids' teachers," he said. "Every day we receive e-mails leaving no doubt that we are doing the right thing."
      A note on the Web site states they read every e-mail and respond to almost all of them, but no, they don't respond to threats to shut them down.

by anonymous - anonymous Thu Mar 17, 2005 00:40 anonymous anonymous

If the information delivered to this site by students concerning their teachers is supposed to be anonymous, then tell me why teachers full names are published?

Also it may suit some of these students better to do some study rather than wasting endless energy profiting the corrupt people who would run a site like this?

Obviously a George Orwell freak at that!

is there any other profession in this world put under such public scrutiny that earn less than the average industrial wage per week?

by eeeekkkkk Thu Mar 17, 2005 00:20

Total Ratings 13,831
Total Teachers 5,404
Total Schools 508
Ratings Yesterday 3,328
ratings Tomorrah?

Do Not Pass Go Little Brother

by eeekkkk Thu Mar 17, 2005 00:14

Matt Snyder
Web design; programming
Musician
Occupation: Instructional Assistant for high school district

Melvin Carl Thomas Jr.
Computer applications; web design
College student: major - Psychology
Musician
Occupation: Instructional Assistant for private school

Brian T. Davis
Ideas; creative thinking
College student: major - Liberal Arts

Nancy L. Davis
Financing; business; customer relations.
Bachelors of Science in Accounting
Occupation: Teacher - junior college.

Timothy W. Davis
Financing; business; research
Masters in Special Education
Occupation: Teacher - high school district

Michael Hussey
Founder of RateMy(TM) Network
Co-founder of RateMyTeachers
Currently the site's East Coast Consultant

by R. Isible Wed Mar 16, 2005 23:56

domain: ratemyteachers.ie
descr: TechThought LLC
descr: BODY CORPORATE (LTD,PLC,COMPANY)
descr: Discretionary Name
admin-c: AAZ825-IEDR
tech-c: RIH12-IEDR
nserver: NS.RACKSPACE.COM
nserver: NS2.RACKSPACE.COM
source: IEDR

person: Dennis Cooper
nic-hdl: AAZ825-IEDR
source: IEDR
person: Register.ie Hostmaster
nic-hdl: RIH12-IEDR
source: IEDR


But the US Info is full:

Registrant:
MisterMessage, LLC
7804 Rushing River Ct
Bakersfield, CA 93313
US

Registrar: DOTSTER
Domain Name: RATEMYTEACHERS.COM
Created on: 19-APR-01
Expires on: 19-APR-06
Last Updated on: 20-MAR-04

Administrative, Technical Contact:
Davis, Nancy ratemyteachers-staff@bak.rr.com
MisterMessage, LLC
7804 Rushing River Ct
Bakersfield, CA 93313
US
661-664-8275


Domain servers in listed order:
NS.RACKSPACE.COM
NS2.RACKSPACE.COM

by eeeekkkk Wed Mar 16, 2005 23:17

No difference is there?

live commentary on irish teachers on the internets

first step towards cctv in classrooms for the better supervision of allocated tasks

That will really make teachers want to get up in the mornings

can someone whois this RMT site just for kicks?

hypothetically if i was a teacher in a secondary school i would insist as a result of this development that my union

i) secure me a job transfer with relocation money
ii) allow me to assume a new identity before beginning new job
iii) allow me to wear a balaclava at work

justification - 'I did not sign up anywhere to be a public figure - if I am to be one against my wishes it's either the above or an immediate reduction in working hours with a ten grand raise - i didn't sign away my right to privacy and didn't sign up for the ongoing organised public show trial judgement of (rich) kids'

it's built into the tech right?

little kiddie eyeballs everywhere ;-)

by Patrick Kavanagh Wed Mar 16, 2005 22:44

"do you monitor internet traffic during school hours?"

Do I check the ratings during school time? Honestly, yes. No, I don't think I would be expelled, I would explain how the site helps the education system today. Looking up a website you shouldn't be (obviously besides pornography etc.) is not grounds for expulsion as far as I know.

by silas Wed Mar 16, 2005 13:33

= do you monitor internet traffic during school hours?
it would only seem fair to expell kids for logging onto such sites and denigrating their teachers during "work hours" and prepare them for a life of corporate black-listing for blogging or indymedia activism.

by Patrick Kavanagh Tue Mar 15, 2005 23:51

As an administrator on the site I can honestly say that the site is run by students. It can also be joined by teachers and parents. It is such a great forum for discussion (anonymously mind you) about teachers. I think it's also a great resource for parents to see what the general consensus is about a teacher. As an administrator, I allow both good and bad comments about teachers, but I know that there is a line which should not be crossed, and I delete all comments which cross that line. So find out more before you jump to conclusions about the site.

by innocent bystander Mon Mar 14, 2005 22:10

I like the idea, though I do realise the site would be treading dangerously regarding libel laws in Ireland - which is possible why it's off the air at the moment.

Even apart from this, I assume teachers would be up in arms at the thought of their work being rated. What next? Performance Related Pay? Yikes!

by LOL Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:22

Make it so!
black list the brats.
rate them on
- participation in the class room election
- hygiene
- aesthetics
- bullying
- sexism
- concentration span

by eeekkkk Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:00

if teachers were anonymously giving the rundown on their students online?

by Charley Dickensian - "serial bloggers" Sun Mar 13, 2005 10:36

CHAPTER 7
MY 'FIRST HALF' AT SALEM HOUSE


School began in earnest next day. A profound impression was made upon me, I remember, by the roar of voices in the schoolroom suddenly becoming hushed as death when Mr. Creakle entered after breakfast, and stood in the doorway looking round upon us like a giant in a story-book surveying his captives.

Tungay stood at Mr. Creakle's elbow. He had no occasion, I thought, to cry out 'Silence!' so ferociously, for the boys were all struck speechless and motionless.

Mr. Creakle was seen to speak, and Tungay was heard, to this effect.

'Now, boys, this is a new half. Take care what you're about, in this new half. Come fresh up to the lessons, I advise you, for I come fresh up to the punishment. I won't flinch. It will be of no use your rubbing yourselves; you won't rub the marks out that I shall give you. Now get to work, every boy!'

When this dreadful exordium was over, and Tungay had stumped out again, Mr. Creakle came to where I sat, and told me that if I were famous for biting, he was famous for biting, too. He then showed me the cane, and asked me what I thought of THAT, for a tooth? Was it a sharp tooth, hey? Was it a double tooth, hey? Had it a deep prong, hey? Did it bite, hey? Did it bite? At every question he gave me a fleshy cut with it that made me writhe; so I was very soon made free of Salem House (as Steerforth said), and was very soon in tears also.

Not that I mean to say these were special marks of distinction, which only I received. On the contrary, a large majority of the boys (especially the smaller ones) were visited with similar instances of notice, as Mr. Creakle made the round of the schoolroom. Half the establishment was writhing and crying, before the day's work began; and how much of it had writhed and cried before the day's work was over, I am really afraid to recollect, lest I should seem to exaggerate.

I should think there never can have been a man who enjoyed his profession more than Mr. Creakle did. He had a delight in cutting at the boys, which was like the satisfaction of a craving appetite. I am confident that he couldn't resist a chubby boy, especially; that there was a fascination in such a subject, which made him restless in his mind, until he had scored and marked him for the day. I was chubby myself, and ought to know. I am sure when I think of the fellow now, my blood rises against him with the disinterested indignation I should feel if I could have known all about him without having ever been in his power; but it rises hotly, because I know him to have been an incapable brute, who had no more right to be possessed of the great trust he held, than to be Lord High Admiral, or Commander-in-Chief - in either of which capacities it is probable that he would have done infinitely less mischief.
*****************************

Education at third level often is an academic industry preparing young people for work in the sectors, R&D and justifying the kilometres of pointless research and nit picking crap in humanities. But at first and second level it is an unalienable right, a right which is intolerably denied the majority of our fellow brothers and sisters in the developing world.

All Teachers are to be valued. Paid properly, and helped and at 13, 14, 15 you don't really know what teaching is about at all at all. Educationalism needs a lot of attention and funding. I'm not sure this website is the best way to help that attention be focussed by the authorities in a way that is productive. What do the "teachers club" think?

by ZZZZZ Sat Mar 12, 2005 14:44

Nancy this site has nothing to do with students having an input into their education, merely a site for unnecessary abuse to be hurled at individuals unable to defend themselves. I think you give away your motivation by implying education is a business and students are customers. If that is how you view education then you are sadly mistaken in the purpose of providing education to young people.

by Nancy Davis - RateMyTeachers Fri Mar 11, 2005 23:35 nldavis at ratemyteachers dot com

Unfair?? To whom? Why are teachers afraid of this site? Certainly they have nothing to hide. Why shouldn't students have some input into THEIR education? Tell me one other business where the customer does not have a significant effect. Why is education any different? Perhaps it is time to change your mindset. I would say it has been unfair for the students not to have been heard.

by Paul Fri Mar 11, 2005 21:11

this site is unfair, who is behind it?
It claims to be maintained by students but I doubt it as it seem to be a commercial venture.
It should be taken offline!