"At Georgetown University, students looking for the inside dope on particular courses can go to The Hoya's "Course Review" section and find out how other students rate the course. There they can find a statistical analysis of such key points as the number of exams, studying time required per week and whether students felt they learned much." - Ch. 17, The Student Newspaper Survival Guide by Rachele Kanigel, p. 164.
In both chapters, the author gives story ideas that I thought weren't really permitted in papers, even school papers. The author recommends writing about which teachers are popular, what students are saying about certain professors and courses at rating websites. Such topics don't seem very professional.
That seems more fit for Myspace or Facebook. Those online journals capture the essence of immaturity. Come on, rating professors, gossip about teachers, and rating websites is high school stuff.
that stuff is dangerous. Sort of reminds me of that story from Amanda Cochran's blog. Ratemyteacher.com style writing is not professional-it's venting. Despite your feelings about a class, its validity and relevance to the major, and your view of the teacher, there has to be a certain about of respect. Of course, if the teacher were to do something completely radical or unethical, then I can see the point-because that would be news.