Filling bubbles just isn¹t enough

Friday, April 4, 1997

PROFESSORS:

Evaluations can affect change only if students take the time to
write detailed commentsBy Philip Koos

"You won’t believe how bad my professor is! He rambles on
endlessly without regard to whether or not his students are
following him. I feel almost as though he were speaking a foreign
language. Even when one of us raises a hand to get clarification,
he ignores the waving arm!"

"I know exactly what you mean. I have had my unfair share of the
world’s worst professors. In fact, I can even top your professor.
My professor does not even bother to lecture. The majority of the
class time is spent showing a video or movie! We are instructed by
the visual media rather than by a living, breathing, supposedly
knowledgeable person. I tell you, university instruction is already
as impersonal as you can get, but that professor made it even
worse. He didn’t care whether or not we learned anything!"

So how often have you shared such conversations with others
during your years here at UCLA? Often, you say? Well, I think that
what is most interesting about such students who complain about
their professors and TAs is that they will complain piteously to
others about the poor instruction they are given. But when it comes
time to writing out course evaluations, it is these same people who
scramble to win the marathon of bubbling in meaningless circles to
evaluate professors and TAs.

This past Winter Quarter I just realized how very few students
actually take these course evaluations seriously. Only a small
handful put thought into writing about their feelings on the course
and on the instruction. It appears as though every student is in a
mad dash to thoughtlessly fill out the evaluation forms and to
escape from the class. I find this behavior rather appalling and
unbelievable. After all, what can a couple of bubbles actually say
about how well or how poorly an instructor teaches? Although it
takes time and effort, I believe that students need to consider
carefully and to write something about the performance of the
instructors.

If students fail to commit to their education by putting effort
into the evaluation of their instructors, then how will the
educational system ever improve? Why do students allow these
instructors to get away with such an academic crime? Don’t we all
fork out hundreds of dollars to get a quality education that makes
our invested time worthwhile? If students fail to evaluate the
instructors properly, then why bother complaining at all? By not
doing proper evaluations, students cheat themselves and others out
of an education that instills knowledge and an understanding of new
ideas. Why would students be passive in the acquisition of an
education? How many students would actually pay the full price for
a book that has every other page torn out? Then why pay for and
accept instruction that offers less than the very best (especially
at an institution like UCLA)?

This past year, I’ve taken two courses in separate quarters
where the professors provided very poor instruction. The professors
showed too many videos, rambled on in monotonous and
incomprehensible tones, and worse yet, did not show concern for
student learning. The main goal of these professors was to kill
time; as a result, the courses did not offer expansive and complete
coverage of the course material. I felt that I had received only a
superficial understanding of the course. In addition to the poor
quality of instruction, the professors did not provide the students
with adequate time to finish the evaluations, and the TAs hung
around while students were doing the evaluations for the professor
as well as the TAs. I was angered to the point where I found myself
contemplating about and preparing for the evaluations weeks ahead
and, on the day of the evaluations, writing a full page about the
maddeningly unacceptable form of instruction. Yet, I sometimes
wonder where these evaluations actually go.

Does anyone other than the professors and TAs read them? Are the
evaluations even read? As much as I support writing meaningful and
informative evaluations, I often wonder whether the evaluations
make a difference. I’ve taken classes where I’ve clearly voiced my
opinion on the poor quality of instruction. Yet, the next year, I
saw that same professor or TA continue to teach exactly as
before.

If this university is to maintain its high standards and to
shine as one of the most prestigious universities, then shouldn’t
the quality of instruction reflect the ratings? The power to
control and make demands for a strong and complete education is in
the hands of students; students have the power to shape this
university and accept only instruction which enriches the mind. If
students are willing to commit to four or more years to taking
classes, then it certainly wouldn’t be too much to ask for 15 to 20
minutes of each of those quarters to fill out evaluations which
truly reflect their perceptions of the course and its instructors.
After all, the students have the paid rights to a worthwhile
education.