An article from Inside Higher Ed reports on a recent study done of Ratemyprofessors.com, a popular site for rating (and trashing) on university faculty. The study concludes that those teachers who are most attractive (or "hot") and give easy grades get the best reviews. While the research design is questioned by some commenters, the most important conclusion from the article is that "languages, sociology, and political science had the top quality (a composite of "helpfulness" and "clarity" ratings) , and ranked first, sixth, and fifth, respectively, out of 36 disciplines for hotness."
Only confirming what we all knew--political science faculty are great looking and outstanding teachers.
Incidentally, one professor recently struck back against Ratemyprofessors with Rateyourstudents, "a public forum where faculty and students can work out the tricky dynamic of the modern classroom. Students can tell us why they won't take the iPod out during a lecture, and professors can tell us why their clothes are so frumpy."
