Students should not research or look up their professor before enrolling or taking their class. It can hinder both professors and students.
Most of those websites like RateMyProfessor can be inaccurate. When students read about the professor before actually taking the class, it can give a wrong picture of how they teach and who they are.
Some people might say it’s beneficial because you’re not going to waste your time if the professor isn’t what you’re looking for and you won’t be going in the class blind.
I can understand this, but can you understand before all these websites no one could tell how their professor was and people did just fine. We as a society have gotten used to being cushioned and given exactly what we want. The real world doesn’t work like that. We are tricking ourselves, because not being able to get a sneak peek as to what the professor is like will prepare us better for the future.
When we all leave college and move on into the harsh world, we are going to have to know what it’s like dealing closely with people that don’t necessarily rub us the right way but do provide us with necessary knowledge.
Researching a professor before choosing a class might cut the person short of the exact class they need. A student might hold off a semester just to get a “good” teacher. Instead of taking the class, trying hard and passing before moving on. Students can delay their graduation process due to being picky and doing research.
How can a student even make sure everything that’s being said about the professor is fact and something of substance, or a biased opinion from a few pissed off students?
Some may complain that they don’t learn the material as well if the professor teaches a certain way. Well information is information. It is supplied to you via slideshow most of the time. When it’s not, we should muster up our own will to learn the material to better ourselves. By law the professor has to provide the necessary material and knowledge to pass the class.
If an individual isn’t understanding it, it’s not because the teacher talks too fast or isn’t so enthusiastic every single day. It’s because said individual isn’t striving to learn the information.
When I want to learn something and pass a class, it’s not even about the teacher. It’s about the hard knowledge and making yourself understand it enough to pass.
Therefore, knowing more and researching a teacher before choosing a class is pointless because you can only truly tell from experiencing it yourself. What doesn’t work for other people, might work for you.