Should Students Be Allowed To Grade Their Teachers?

Since our childhood we have been taught by our religion and elders that a teacher and a students have a spiritual relationship; it is not limited to only academics, but it’s a life time bonding where a teacher is a spiritual father to his students.

Closeness of the relationships allows the students to have the right of evaluating their teachers provided they do so without being rude or disrespectful to them. Moreover, this grading of teachers should be just for the sake of improvement in teaching style, course content etc, rather than followed by some personal grudge or favoritism. If taken and performed positively, this evaluation is going to work for the progress of not only teachers, schools, colleges, universities, but also for students.

From these evaluations, teachers will come to know what students like or dislike about the teaching methodology and content. They will realize which topics are difficult or easy from students’ point of view. They will discover which activities are more enjoyable, affective and motivating for students to learn more and better. Also, teachers find out the ways that reach out to students and avoid the ways that don’t, e.g. they can change the way they deliver a lecture or they can facilitate students to participate in activities they like. This all will contribute to the quality of teaching and teacher-student relationship.

On the other hand, teachers can also receive increments in their salaries if their evaluations are marked good by their students. Concerning administrational benefits, student evaluations give an idea of which teachers are most effective and popular among students. They help administrators to know if their students are satisfied or not with the school, college or university program. Also, it provides the administration a guideline for the improvement of the whole institution.

          Contrarily, some people don’t approve the idea of teacher’s evaluation  because they believe that the personal grudges or favoritism on the part of students will affect a teacher’s evaluation. But the answer to these arguments is again the same that teacher and students have a spiritual relationship and an effective teacher is the one who makes the classroom a community in which students not only feel comfortable but also respected and valued. If this atmosphere is sustained, definitely there will not be any element of favoritism, personal frustrations, and ultimately, students will evaluate their students honestly and effectively which will assist the whole institution to progress.

BY: Anam Tahir

Sec: D