Job Discussion Forums

[eha]

No---I'm suggesting that the whole concept of 'evaluation' be re-thought out, along with many other ideas that are flung about in a very superficial way in academia today. The whole question of what consitutes the idea of a university needs re-appraisal--- God knows, there's plenty of literature on this topic in academic journals, all of it easily accessible.
However, there's no point in debating irreconcilables: if you really believe that students are 'customers', who are 'buying' a commodity, it's no use talking to someone like me, who believes that they're more like 'apprentices' who are learning something about life-- as well as Grammar, or whatever.
And by the way, you're missing the point: suggesting archly that anyone who 'thinks critically' about a concept must be someone who's got an axe to grind, is a pretty good way of preventing progress and development. As a matter of fact, (can't see why it should be anyone's business but my own) I get predominantly good 'evaluations'; I'm just not too impressed with them, any more than I am when I get the occasional bad one, or than I am when a colleague whom I know as a sincere, committed and capable teacher, gets a bad one, while I get a good one. And vice versa. Don't forget: lies, damn lies, and statistics.