Thank you, sheesh I'm sick of people saying likeability is equal to teaching caliber. There is definitely a tendency for some students to associate the course's nature with the teacher's ability; for example I was on ratemyprofessors.com and many people didn't like a certain teacher because the course material was dry and that was what the rating reflected. However on the anti-calender, where the rating categories are more specific, it was clear that the teacher was fine but the course was a bore. If university students can jump to the conclusion that the teacher is the one at fault, then elementary or high school kids will do this even more quickly. As well, I remember in elementary, liking a teacher or not was largely based on peer agreement; so you end up with massively popular teachers and all the other ones, while great teachers, weren't given any love.



Nobody is saying that students are all little demons out to get their teachers (well ok they are sometimes), but "betrayal" is something that happens a lot. In our society that promotes self-gain, there is little hesitancy, especially in young kids who don't understand the repercussions of somebody losing their job, to act in a way that would get rid of somebody or something you don't like. When I was teaching English to elementary students in Taiwan, my class had more difficult material and moved at an accelerated pace compared to other classes (and I made them write exams! oh no!) while other teachers were much more slack. But I can guarantee that by the end-of-the-year performances, my students had a larger vocabulary, fluency and understanding. Yet I also know that some of the other teachers were more loved for doing things like giving out candy and prizes rather than conveying the material effectively. Children are horrible judges of what is best for them academically.

I think on the high school level (maybe just Grades 11 + 12) evaluation, taken seriously, is beneficial, but any younger than that and the point would be lost.

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UWO 2012