Professor rating site finally drops creepy "hotness" rating

[manybellsdown]

I’ve got a friend from high school who is a math professor and looks like a Swedish bikini model. Yes, she had a flaming chili pepper. Ironically, when she goes on dates and tells men what she does for a living, she’s more than once had them simply … walk out.

[Artor]

I just finished off a pint of cardamom pistachio ice cream, it was delicious!

[Snowlark]

@Gyrofrog

Makes me wonder if there’s cardamom ice cream…just checked, most of the search results are recipes, not products for sale

There’s a small ice creamery near me that has made it in the past. I love cardamom and that pint was everything I hoped it would be.

@Ratel, @nytespryte, and @WelcomeToBoingBoing: I’m with you. Chile (especially chipotle) infused dark chocolate ice cream should be a standard for every ice cream shop. The one that I had with a molé swirl and cacao nibs tasted like a gift from the gods.

[thechuck_2112]

@AndreaJames

RateMyProfessors is one of the earliest opportunities for students to exert very public power over our careers and reputations.

Query whether her real complaint is the admittedly demeaning and sexist “hotness” ratings, or whether it’s the notion that students have some measure of power over professors’ careers.

[Brainspore]

Most colleges have some kind of periodic faculty performance evaluations involving student feedback, so the “student feedback can impact academics’ careers” aspect isn’t new in the least.

The aspect of “RateMyProfessor” that bugs some educators is the idea of having one’s personal job performance subjected to the same kind of public criticism as a Yelp review. I daresay most students who post on the site wouldn’t enjoy having their academic performance picked apart in public, especially if it included a sexiness score.

[the_borderer]

It depends on the variety of chilli. Something like Sukari would work well with ice cream, most people wouldn’t even realise it is chilli.

Trinidad Scorpion ice cream is probably forbidden under the Geneva convention though.

[GulliverFoyle]

Lately I’ve been noticing chili in ostensibly sweet foods. Not sure I trust it.

[navarro]

peach ice cream with candied habanero however is very tasty.

[agies]

@Melz2

if you drink a lot of it, it will definitely clean you out.

Actually, it sounds like a soft pass. Liquid even.

[douglas_stuart]

@bunkyboar

It is sort of the place that students who feel they got screwed over on a grade go to complain and try to get back at a professor

Just like regular student evaluations. Someone did a study [citation needed] that showed the only thing the instructor’s student rating correlated with was student grade in course.

Then there’s the more recent study [citation also needed] showing there’s a measurable bias against female faculty.

[douglas_stuart]

They walked out to find the nearest justice of the peace?

[WelcomeToBoingBoing]

@manybellsdown

when she goes on dates and tells men what she does for a living, she’s more than once had them simply … walk out.

Friend of a friend is a Navy fighter pilot who also looks like a swedish bikini model (I’m told anyways). Similar stories about how dates go.

[IronEdithKidd]

Menz with fragile egos can’t stand to be around females that are objectively smarter than them. Great way to weed out useless men from your dating pool, frustrating as it might be at the time.

@the_borderer: Perhaps not banned, but would anyone really want their ice cream to taste like smoke? We stopped growing scorpions because they just don’t taste that great. Now, scotch bonnet lime sherbet could and should totally be a thing. [Now I know what to do with some of those peppers in the freezer.]

[bunkyboar]

@douglas_stuart

Just like regular student evaluations. Someone did a study [citation needed] that showed the only thing the instructor’s student rating correlated with was student grade in course.

Then there’s the more recent study [citation also needed] showing there’s a measurable bias against female faculty.

All that is true, but around here university student ratings must be submitted before the final grade is posted, and we typically have 60-70% response rate. At ratemyprofessors, I’m guessing it will typically get rated afterward, and those most motivated to do so have a bone to pick, and I’d bet response rate is under 10%.

[sluggo]

As a Swedish Bikini model, I’m tired of my occupation being used as a benchmark for attractiveness.

[milliefink]

@douglas_stuart

Then there’s the more recent study [citation also needed] showing there’s a measurable bias against female faculty.

Student Evaluations Can’t Be Used to Assess Professors. They’re Discriminatory.

Research suggests students are biased against female lecturers

[stanestane]

Are there any reliable sources giving gender and sexual orientation breakdown of people using this feature or are we operating on assumptions?

[van2Dpool]

But that’s how salsa happens

[KludgeGrrrl]

@thechuck_2112

Query whether her real complaint is the admittedly demeaning and sexist “hotness” ratings, or whether it’s the notion that students have some measure of power over professors’ careers.

Alas students do have “some measure of power” over professors’ careers, at least early on. I don’t know anyone who worries about RateMyProfessor’s impact upon their career (although most academics hate it, not even primarily for the stupid “hotness” rating), but many universities and colleges take those class evaluations seriously. I remember having a long conversation with the dean over certain students’ comments in my annual review…

I think students should have a forum to express their views about a class and the teacher, but the way most of these evaluations are structured is abysmal. For example, a student’s view on the clarity of a prof in class, or their helpfulness outside of class, is completely valid. A student’s view on the degree to which a prof understands the the material is not – because the student hasn’t the expertise to judge. /rant

[Brainspore]

@douglas_stuart

It is sort of the place that students who feel they got screwed over on a grade go to complain and try to get back at a professor

Just like regular student evaluations.

Yes but regular student evaluations usually aren’t put out there in public. In my experience they’re also usually reviewed by people who have enough experience and context to have a sense of which reviews were likely written by a student who just had a grudge about a bad grade.