While the University of Houston System Board of Regents weighs in on the financial aspect of Gov. Rick Perry’s education proposals, UH professors feel his reforms ask for an oversimplification of the role of professors in higher education.
"Perry is addressing a very complicated matter," Associate Profesor of English Patricia Yongue said. "The university professor’s job is three-fold. We not only have to teach the knowledge, we have to produce the knowledge."
As of now professors’ pay is linked to overall teaching effectiveness, research conducted and the service they provide to their profession.
"You might be dealing with a group of freshmen who aren’t used to the rigors of university education," Yongue said. "The learning process is not purely the professor’s responsibility, it’s the student’s as well."
While student evaluations are meant to show a diverse array of student opinions about a professor from a semester’s worth of learning, David Mazella, Faculty Senate chair of education policy and student affairs said evaluations aren’t the best depiction of a professor’s overall effectiveness to students.
"The evaluations are one snapshot of what happened in the class," Mazella said.
Finance senior Terek Badawt said some students don’t consider what they’ve learned when filling out their evaluation, but that might change if they knew their opinions affected professors’ pay.
"A lot of students don’t take professor evaluations seriously at all. As long as they get a good grade in the class they give professors good evaluations," Badawt said. "But if students know their opinion will have an influence on a teacher’s pay it would be a good idea because I think it would force more teachers to be more conscious of what they’re doing in class."
