A great professor can make the most boring class in the world exciting, and can even help you find your passion in the subject they teach.

Houston Community College has some amazing professors, but do you know who they are? You will be signing up for classes next semester soon, have you asked around to see which professors are the best to take?  

It’s your money, you are paying for the classes you enroll in and you deserve to get the best return on your investment.

Your education determines the direction of your life, and you are at HCC to obtain an education. That is the most important thing to remember. If you get a professor who isn’t teaching, don’t you think you should demand your money back?

It’s not so easy, but you can usually make sure you know what you’re getting into by visiting  RateMyProfessor.com or by asking other students on campus about instructors. A good professor can be the difference between you learning the subject or not, and the difference between a boring class an invigorating one.

Let’s say that you took a class and the professor was terrible, or you took a class and the professor was stellar. Don’t just keep that to yourself, let other students know by going to RateMyProfessor.com and registering your opinion.

Now of course, students should also honestly fill out the confidential departmental instructor evaluations that HCC emails to students toward the end of the semester to let the college know if instructors are doing their jobs or not. However, no one sees these evaluations except for the instructor’s boss, RateMyProfessor.com reviews can be seen by other students.

My wife has a professor who was cursing in class one day, and the next class period he was 30 minutes late. Students can get kicked out of class for cursing and have their attendance record marked for tardiness for being so late, but how are instructors held accountable for such actions?

Our editor-in-chief had an instructor who took business calls during class period, would frequently dismiss class an hour early to go to business meetings and went out of the country for a business trip for a week and did not tell the department so there was no substitute and no class. Again, how can such professors be held accountable?

One way is through the instructor evaluation at the end of the semester. The school has a right to know which professors are performing well and which ones are not. Maybe some tardy, cursing, or absent instructors should not be working at a fine institution like HCC.  

You, the student, are the customer. You’re the one with the decision and the money to attend HCC, even if it is financial aid or grant money.  

You deserve to be excited about attending HCC and excited about learning. Don’t just take a class, take the professor. Even if you’re required to take a class, find out who is teaching and whether or not it’s worth it to take a class from that person.

One semester, I had a professor tell me that I was wasting my money taking classes at HCC. I don’t take any courses from him anymore. I’d rather spend my money on professors that will inspire me in the field that I choose to be in and make me glad I chose to attend HCC.

Be sure to evaluate your professor when the surveys are sent out by the college, and go to RateMyProfessor.com and let the world know how good or bad your professor was. Both are  completely anonymous, and you will be alerting HCC and other students to instructors that should be avoided.