DECK

Criticizing teachers can improve teaching styles

How many times do you think to yourself, "Oh! My teacher Mr. Crabbypants gave me a C on my homework assignment. That's so unfair!" Although it may not be exactly those words, almost every student on campus, at one point or another, has something negative to say about a teacher. Whether it's unfair grading, too much homework or bias against or toward students, students have been, still are and will be complaining about teachers for time to come.

But some say that criticizing or defaming teachers is wrong and should be stopped. They believe that it's unreasonable and that students don't have the right or power to say whatever they like about the adult instructing them in class, especially on public forums.

This assumption is incorrect.

Students do have the right to say what they like about teachers. And this right shouldn't be infringed upon.

Criticizing teachers should be encouraged rather than frowned upon. The whole reason students resort to criticizing teachers is because they are unsatisfied. They feel that they didn't receive the best experience that the teacher had to offer. Teachers do receive performance reviews from their superiors. What's wrong with performance reviews from the students? After all, they spend an hour every day with the teacher and generally know if they are learning or not.

Often when students dislike a teacher, it's because they are confused about the teacher's expectations and aren't learning enough. Instead of ignoring or stopping negative comments from students, teachers should take them in stride. Looking at the results of their teaching from the students' perspectives is an easy way for teachers to see if they're actually doing their jobs.

In a legal sense, students have a right to free speech. Although students cannot write anything critical on School Loop, a private web site and  overseen MVHS administration, students can publish almost anything on public forums or web sites. So trying to restrict a student's ability to write freely is the same as trying to encroach upon a student's basic rights. It's a basic wrong. 

In extreme cases, students who criticize teachers might be accused of committing libel, or publishing lies. However, this argument is faulty because teachers can be considered public figures. Basically, because teachers are known among a wide variety of students, the students can write criticisms about them. 

But more than just the legal issues, it's just better for teachers to accept and understand these criticisms.  If a teacher were to look at these remarks in a positive way and try to improve his or her teaching style, they could end up being better teachers than when they started out. 

It might turn out that Mr. Crabbypants only gave you a C because you didn't follow his instructions. If he was clearer with his assignments, he might turn out to be Mr. Best Teacher Ever.

Teacher bashing is morally unacceptable

The Constitution says that you can call your girlfriend a pig—but it doesn't mean that you should. The Constitution says that you can strut down Stevens Creek Boulevard brandishing an AK-47—but it doesn't mean that you should. The constitution says that you can whine about your teacher's inability to teach. But it definitely doesn't mean that you should. 

Teacher bashing is wrong, especially for the wrong reasons. Yet students do it all the time and pass on their judgments to other students. It's best to take student opinions of teachers with a grain—or a heaping teaspoon—of salt because, as new data indicates, a student's grades can highly influence their opinions of a teacher.   

Over 55 percent of students who responded to an El Estoque poll earned less than an A grade in their least favorite teacher's class. Conversely, 81 percent of the same students earned an A in their favorite teacher's class. These figures clearly show the correlation between performance in a class and the popularity of a teacher. As students' grades go up, so does the teacher's popularity. According to the data, students tend to connect the grades they receive in a class with their impressions of the teacher. In doing so, they fail to realize that teachers are not magicians. Grades are not the results of a teacher's mystical ability, but of a student's hard work. A teacher can't, therefore, "give" someone a grade. Grades are earned. 

Regardless of what grades students earn, it's still wrong for them to comment on their teacher's lack of ability. If a student claims out loud that a particular teacher can't teach, he might as well be announcing with a fanfare of trumpets that he can't learn. Students should have realized by now that, as they get older, teachers teach less; hence their transformation into "lecturers" in college. It's a way for students to learn how to keep themselves on top of the class' subject matter. And if students blame their teachers for  "not teaching," they're telling the rest of the world that they're not ready for the Herculean rat race that most normal people refer to as life.

Whether it's due to simple frustration or grade-motivated vengeance, bashing teachers is wrong, plain and simple. It's not because teachers innately command the same respect accorded to deities; 1850 happened a while ago. It's because it defers responsibility from the student. 

Teacher-bashing students tell the world that it's not their fault that they get bad grades, that they can't pay attention in class, or that they just can't learn on their own. Those who criticize teachers essentially blame the teacher for the students' inability to do what they should, by now, be able to do by themselves in the first place. 

Granted, teacher-bashing is protected by the Constitution. But, just like the right to call your girlfriend a pig and the right to pack pistols in public, it's a right that should never be exercised.