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Would you bribe your professor to ensure that you received a decent grade at the end of the semester? Although we all look forward to the semester being over, we dread drudging through the last few days of classes.

Evaluations should be ethical

 Would you bribe your professor to ensure that you received a decent grade at the end of the semester?

 Although we all look forward to the semester being over, we dread drudging through the last few days of classes. Between final exams, final projects and finally finishing a term paper the night before it is due, we have little time to spare for futile tasks like sleeping.

 With all that on a student’s plate, it is easy to see how an optional evaluation could fall by the wayside, but some professors have implemented a ploy to ensure that students actually complete their evaluations.

 The student opinion of instructor (SOI) is administered across campus so that students can evaluate their respective professor’s performances. According to VSU’s Office for Academic Affairs, “The main goal of student evaluations is to help faculty improve courses and instruction; moreover, student evaluations are used in the annual evaluation of faculty.”

 So essentially, the students grade the usual leaders of lecture on their skills as a professor. So why do some VSU professors think it is alright to give students points towards their final grade if they complete the SOI?

 In a letter to the faculty senate, Dr. Cecilia Barnbaum, professor of physics and astronomy, mentioned a VSU faculty member that ‘adds 0.4 percent’ to a student’s grade if they complete the evaluation.

 Regardless of how little the reward is, it is still unethical to persuade a student to write an evaluation provided the fact that the points given could sway the student’s evaluation.

 According to the VSU Student Handbook, a student who violates the academic integrity code may be punished by receiving a failing grade in the course with the possibility of further disciplinary action. Professors should be held to the same standards as those they teach. Although the intentions of the professor may be just to ensure that their students turn in evaluations, coercing students by promising points to their grade for SOI completion borders the line of bribery.

 If there is an issue with students completing the SOI online on their own time, VSU should administer the evaluations in class or employ a different system to evaluate its faculty.

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