It all stems from RateMyProfessor.
If you were regularly rated (or berated for that matter) on a public website with approximately six million monthly visitors, wouldn't you want to know what people were writing about you? Of course, it's human nature. So despite what they say, your college professors are definitely reading your posts on RateMyProfessor.com. Now, nobody likes a snide review. But Johns Hopkins lecturer Susan Muaddi Darraj gives it right back – and is absolutely brilliant. In proper English professor form, she politely insists to her undergrad students that if they're going to write something negative about her, it ought to at least be well written.
Need a little extra guidance? She'll be happy to point you to her blog, which provides – in a way much better than I ever could – a delightfully satirical rubric for your negative RateMyProfessors review, and we think her advice could be applied to most review websites. Not to mention, it's hilarious.
In her blog post, Susan delineates exactly how she'll grade your review, based on things such as how well you conceal your identity, whether you mention something "blistering about the professor unrelated to his or her teaching," how well you use slang to build a rapport with your audience, whether you can get your friends to write a negative review without even taking the class, and whether you state that getting an A in the class is "absolutely unachievable," among others. And she provides examples of some of her favorite negative reviews.
"One student wrote that I am a terrific professor because I don’t care when people walk in late to my class, which astounds me to have been misread like this. One review stated bluntly, 'Buyer beware. Her moods seem to swing.' (I kinda love that one.)" she writes.
Susan also mentions that positive reviews are appreciated, too: "Another student wrote that I 'go out of my way' to help students, which makes me feel – honestly – fantastic. And I’m going to do it now." So if you had a good experience in a class, why not pay a compliment where a compliment is due?
All we know is that if we were to take Susan Muaddi Darraj's class, it might not be easy but it would certainly be fun. For more, read her entire blog here.
What are your thoughts? Do you love to write? If so, give us a few lines of prose or check out the JHU MA in Writing Program.
Did you know that ragtime jazz musician Eubie Blake was actually from Maryland? Read about this famous Marylander here.