Hot, Easy Professors Get Highest Ratings
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James Joyner | Monday, May 8, 2006 |
A recent study of the professorial ratings posted on a popular website shows that perceived “hotness” is the chief predictor of ratings, followed by perceived easiness of grading.
If you’re not sexy, you might want to be easy.
At least if you’re a professor concerned about your rating on RateMyProfessors.com. James Felton, a professor of finance and law at Central Michigan University, and colleagues looked at ratings for nearly 7,000 faculty members from 370 institutions in the United States and Canada, and his verdict is: the hotter and easier professors are, the more likely they’ll get rated as a good teacher.
A good discussion follows in the comments section as to what all this means, with one respondent going so far as to say that these factors should be considered by hiring committees. One commentor suspects that attractive students are also likely to receive a boost in grades from professors.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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