For high school students, grades are an important aspect of their life, along with other things such as sports, clubs, social life, hobbies, etc. When there’s a big test or an exam, students may feel anxiety and pressure; especially when it’s a big portion of their grade. Teachers have major control over students’ lives- academically.

Not all teachers or educators meet the needed requirements for the learning styles of each individual student. Moreover, students have no control over who their teacher is or isn’t. Some teachers may desire constructive criticism on their teaching, asking students to take surveys to review their teaching style, but the majority do not. Feedback should be universal and mainstreamed for every period a taught.

Students should be entitled to express their opinion about the teachers they have. According to Myles Lewis at The Daily Advertiser, “By students having the ability to grade teachers, it allows teachers to see their progress and be able to make their class more enjoyable for the students.” The more the students are “into” their class, the more their grades improve. The teachers should be accountable for making an environment for students to learn and feel safe. Teachers should be able to know if they are doing a great job or not, in every class, as opposed to just one class.

A serious concern is if students aren’t taking the opportunity to grade their teachers seriously. There will be students who don’t value their school as much as others and that is okay. The input of students on how their teacher is performing in the classroom is better than an adult supervisor. If you have more than half of the class sleeping, then maybe that is an indication that the lesson is boring and the majority of students are not learning. Additionally, by allowing students to grade teachers, it develops a better environment for the kids to learn, understand, and enjoy class time.

Both parties, students and teachers, should be getting necessary feedback. Currently, students are not able to fully express the feelings about a class or a teacher. Letting students grade their teachers can give essential information to the teachers and create higher-level oversight. If teachers can have so much control over a student, it should be able to go both ways.