Dubious Praise

Yeah, I know, "dubious" is a five-dollar word, and the correct expression is "damning with faint praise." But my choice is better.

Whatever.

I get emails from former students sometimes, and they always make me happy. Even this one. A clever and lovely individual who entrusted her brain to me for a semester added this postmark to a recent communication:

"Thought you might find this interesting: There's a website called rate your professors, and it's basically a catalog of a bunch of colleges, and lists of professors that students have rated and commented on. I figured it wouldn't hurt to know a bit about mine, so I checked it out, and
decided just for fun to see if you were on there. You are, and you have a 4.5 out of 5.0 highest rating, and the only comment left says : If you really dont like English, this is the professor for you. She is very helpful. "

Well. That is music to my ears. Of the Arnold Schoenberg variety. But of course I had to look. My name is spelled wrong, so I'm not sure how well my gracious rater is actually doing after my tutelage. And I note there's a category for "hotness," which the rater left blank. Could mean a lot of different things, but on the face of it, I'm not thrilled. I got a 4.0 for easiness and a 0 for hotness. That's like high school all over again.