You know it’s getting close to the end of the semester when a professor pulls out a stack of oversized Scantron-esque sheets and tells everyone to fill them out. We’re not be even close to filling out these class evaluations, perhaps there’s enough time for our plea to be heard.

We believe that the student evaluations of the professors and their classes should be made public to all students prior to registering for classes. Students already use online resources to check out professors before they decide which classes to take. Web sites such as ratemyprof.com and pickaprof.com offer professor ratings and comments left by anonymous students who have completed the course. But really, can these sites be trusted?

Some professors only have a few ratings, and there’s no way to tell if a disgruntled student who was caught cheating may have left it. Basically, there’s no real way to tell whether or not the comments and ratings are legitimate. However, if the student evaluation forms were made available to all students, he or she would be able to get an overall idea of the class before taking it. The forms could be available in their entirety, or a Web site could be created for SMU students only that would act like one of the aforementioned professor rating Web sites.

Along these same lines, we believe that professors should post syllabi as another way that students can get an idea of what they are signing up for. It would be nice to know if you’re planning on taking three classes that all have 15-page papers due on the last week of class. Sometimes students are overwhelmed with class work, which can result in physical and mental strain. With a heads up, students can spread the work over the entire semester based on a class syllabus. Also, some students like to know whether the class will be based on many tests and quizzes, or just a few crucial grades, and whether the tests are taken in or out of class. Students should be able to know what they’re in for so they can decide what classes to take in order to perform to their best ability.

Having either student evaluations or previous class syllabi available to students is something that should have been done a long time ago. Other schools do it, so why should ours?