Should Students be able to Grade their Teachers?

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Teresa Collins, Contributor

Report cards are a way for teachers to grade students’ work and give constructive criticism. What if the students could do the same thing with teachers? Students could give the teachers feedback on their teaching style, how effective it is or even things like how they treat students. This could be something they do on a certain day in the year, like report cards for students. This could help give teachers, and their supervisors, a better idea of how good of a teacher they are and might be helpful for teachers so they can improve and find out what is working and what is not. Students should be able to grade their teachers because it gives the teachers a better idea of how they are performing in class and gives the students a chance to share their opinions and experiences.

Teachers have many different ways of teaching their students and while we may not be able to say some are much better than others, we can find ways to improve certain methods. According to teach.com, there is a teacher-centered approach and a student-centered approach to learning. The teacher-centered approach is through lecture and instruction, while the student-centered approach gives students and teachers an equal role in the students’ learning. Student-centered learning consists of things like formal and informal assessments, group projects, and class participation. While every student learns differently, if students were able to grade their teachers, it might give a better idea of which approach is most effective when it comes to learning.

Some people might argue that students could take advantage of this power and poorly reflect teachers they don’t like even if they have good teaching methods. While this may be true, we shouldn’t take away this privilege before it proves to be too much of a responsibility for the students. According to Kid Central, during adolescence (ages 14-18) the brain develops deeper moral reasoning. Moral reasoning is what tells the brain right from wrong, which is related to how they would decide to use this power and the chance of students using this power to incorrectly give a teacher a poor review. However, another point Kid Central made is that when it comes to intellectual power, the brain of an adolescent is equal to the brain of an adult. This proves that this is a good time to teach students the importance of giving someone, even someone they may not like, positive and helpful feedback. If students are given the chance to grade their teachers, it gives them the skills they need to put feelings aside and honestly grade the person’s performance.

Some students may have opinions about their teacher that they don’t feel comfortable sharing. Allowing students to anonymously grade their teachers would give them a chance to do this. They would be able to tell people what they want to say without needing to give their identity. By doing this, schools are giving students a voice and letting them be heard. When it feels like you’re not being heard or given the chance to be heard, that can make you feel bad, so it is important to give students an opportunity to share their opinions. Enriching Students says, “To truly personalize learning, [a] student’s voice is essential. It’s really not possible to have personalized learning without it.” This is true because you need to know how effective the teaching is so the students can get the most out of the years they have. If schools allow students to anonymously grade their teachers, they will give more students the opportunity they need to share how they feel about their teachers.

Schools should give students a chance to grade their teachers in order to give their opinion and give information on how effective their method is. Schools can use the information they gather to help the teachers improve and have a better understanding of what methods are most effective. Not only will it help teachers, but it will also give students responsibility. The last reason why students should be able to grade their teachers is the students will get to express their opinions and feelings about their teachers and possibly the school. This would be a good way to let kids be honest about their teachers while also staying anonymous.