In college there are platforms like “Rate My Professors” so that teachers may be held accountable. It helps teachers to view their students as peers they can also learn from, making learning a process of mutual exchange. When public school systems lack individual transparency, it affects everyone. The most fundamental mistake that any public school can make is blatantly disregarding the opinions of minors.

The interactions we have at school consist a lot of the ones with our teachers. However, it’s hard for students to be open with the way their teachers teach. Right as you walk into class, the teacher tells you to pull out a piece of paper and a pencil. Do you think before you do it? Speaking from experience, probably not. The actions are almost purely robotic. When you’re completing an assignment, do you ask yourself why this material is important? Probably not. Learning should be about passion, but we really have only gotten quicker at thinking up nonsense. We think for the purposes of getting the grade. This promotes shallow learning and thinking habits that won’t help students get anywhere in the real world.

The grading system has become subjective to each classroom and it’s expected that we adhere to each and every one of them. We abide by the rules of the classroom and go from class to class with a hanging gloom on our shoulders. This strict adherence is influenced by our lack of say in how the rules of the classroom should go.

A system such as “Rate my Professor” would help teachers to hold themselves to higher standards. Recall that one time you and your friend received an assignment and complained about how this wasn’t helping you learn. That’s busywork. A waste of time and something that no one needs. A “Rate my High School Teacher” would allow us to give our teachers the feedback they need to hear. It benefits all parties when they are actually setting out to be efficient teachers that haven’t forgotten why they are teaching. We should try avoiding the potential corruption of one person who has such an immense power over kids. Kids who are so scared of that grade they’ll do almost anything.

We need teachers to listen to their students. Stimulating an open ended discussion through an online platform should be implemented in high school. This is steady with the belief that minors have a valid say in how a proportion of their lives are run. I mean, as much as I like hearing my friends complain about how one of their teachers weigh grades, I would like very much for it to change. If we give weight to a “Rate my High School Teacher”, teachers could be held accountable and transparency would increase. Isn’t this the kind of freedom we want?