As the semester winds down, we are constantly reminded to fill out the surveys for each professor we have taken this semester. Like many of my peers I was hesitant to do it. I thought to myself two very different reasons why I shouldn’t do it. One, what if no one ever reads this and I wasted my time? Two, what if I write something anonymously but it is so specific to me, and the teacher notices (especially if it is a bad review)? These thoughts are hard to get past, however when my teachers start to ask during every lecture to complete the surveys, you begin to feel like you should.

With my teachers beginning to ask us everyday to do the surveys, I figured it was about time to do it. It’s only going to take five minutes. While answering these questions you realize that you are now grading your teachers; the ones who are responsible for whether or not you pass a class are now the ones being graded. Instead of a grade being on the line, it is their career. You are determining how well they are doing, and whether they should be advanced or paid more or even if they will be teaching next semester. Keep in mind when you see a teacher survey it is important, it is your time to voice your opinion and tell them how you feel. With the anonymous feature, you are held to not restrictions to what you say; so if you are uncomfortable to explain how you feel and sing your name, that’s no problem because you can say whatever you wish with no repercussions.

Personally, the surveys need to be taken into account with administration at Rutgers University-Newark they are important. If you answer the surveys honestly, it will better the college. Like high school when a teacher has their principal sit in on a class to take notes, it will be aided by the thoughts of students. They see the professor on a class-to-class basis and see them naturally with no one sitting in. These surveys should be answered and viewed honestly; if several students are complaining about one professor and how they grade or if they are mean to students, should they continue to teach here? Probably not, but if the administration never hears the in-class issues, they’ll never know there is an issue.

Rutgers can only help if they know there is a problem in the classroom. So now it is up to you, to sit down and start doing what your professor and administrators ask and voice your opinions on who educates you here. If you want to make a difference here and have a voice on who teaches and who doesn’t, it starts with answering these small surveys. I’m going to leave it up to you now; take it into your hands to decide how you feel about your professors and remember it's anonymous, no one will ever know that it was you so make sure to be honest and just fill out the survey.