Professor ratings not credible
5/21/2013Your May 3 article “UT: Ratings of professors just ‘nonsense’; Think tank’s listing ranks faculty 20th-worst in survey” said the ratings of professors at the University of Toledo and other universities were based on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com.
One fact about that site that points to the lack of credibility of its data, which was not mentioned in your article, is that one of the five questions for the ratings asks the student to score a professor’s “easiness” on a scale of one to five, five being the easiest.
This number is used with the other four numerical ratings (one to five each) to determine the total score (average of all five questions) for the professor. That alone indicates the mentality of the Web site and those who put stock in it: The easier the professor is, the higher the rating. This is not about education, it is about popularity.
RateMyProfessors.com is anonymous. The items on the site are merely student ratings by a biased, uncontrolled sample.
SAM NADLER, JR.
Research Professor of Mathematics University of Toledo Densmore Drive
Public doesn’t want gun control
In The Blade’s lust for more senseless gun control, you bring out the same old rants, rancor, and false accusations against the National Rifle Association (“Congressional placeholders place progress on hold,” op-ed column, May 4).
Background checks failed in the Senate because the silent majority did not want another feel-good law.
DANIEL SZYCH
Eleanor Avenue
Thanks, senators, for pro-gun vote
A big well-deserved thank you to our senators who voted against the hysterical knee-jerk calls for gun controls, and also to the staff and members of the National Rifle Association who worked tirelessly to make it happen (“Senate axes gun control despite bipartisan pleas; Background checks, assault-weapons ban rejected,” April 18).
Punishing the masses of lawful gun owners for the senseless and mindless acts of a few criminals never will solve the problem. It is refreshing to see that our senators had the courage to protect our constitutional rights.
Those who want to ban guns should be aware that gun owners of America will fight for what’s right as long as it takes.
JIM GORALSKE
Van Buren, Ohio
Boston maybe not so tough
My sympathy goes out to the many victims of the attack during the Boston Marathon. But the political exploitation of this assault is contemptible.
The self-applause by Bostonians and the mutual “Boston tough” backslapping by politicos as residents crawled out to unlock their front doors is pathetic.
Most Americans can only wonder how many rugged Bostonians and other northeast corridor and coastal types wished they had the security and safety offered by an uncompromised right to bear arms.
EDWARD POPKOSKI
Cloister Road