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Most people have no trouble recalling a favorite teacher or one they could have done without. Now a Web site that has gained a huge following -- and as many detractors -- is allowing students and parents to anonymously sound off about teachers and administrators.

Since the site, http://www.ratemyteachers.com/, was launched in 2001, school districts across the country and around the world -- about 750 of them in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom -- have barred students from using the site while on school grounds, including many in metro Detroit, including Novi, St. Clair Shores, Troy, Wayne-Westland and Chippewa Valley.

The reason? Schoolkids may think it's a great way to share information about teachers; educators, on the other hand, say anonymous comments run the risk of ruining a person's reputation unfairly.

For instance, one teacher at Kimball High School in Royal Oak was described last week as "A slave driver" who "ignores what students have to say entirely. You have no input whatsoever. I suggest not taking her for any class. She will nose-dive your GPA."

That teacher didn't return calls for comment, but another teacher from the same school who got a low rating on the site said, "I don't think it's a fair assessment." The teacher asked to remain anonymous.

"I don't think it's a very scientific way to do an analysis," she said. "What's stopping me from telling my children to go online and bump up my evaluation? Or, what's to stop someone who really wants to get someone? They can say they're monitoring it, but it's not really being monitored."

Larry Parham, an assistant principal at Avondale High School in Auburn Hills who said he was previously unaware of the Web site, said the 12 students who gave him poor marks on http://www.ratemyteachers.com/ don't like that he's just doing his job -- keeping the school orderly. He said he believes the site attracts the disenchanted and the disenfranchised, not high achievers.

"If they're saying I suspend people for 'lame things,' to me that's good, because it would appear I'm doing things to keep the school safe and orderly," said Parham. Being judged for all the world to see is jarring, Parham said, but a plethora of Web sites makes arbiters of everyone. There's http://www.completedentist.com/ that allows patients to rate their dentists, and http://www.doctorsscorecard.com/ gives anyone license to opine about a doctor's bedside manner.

Such sites feed the American obsession with ratings and contests, said Jerry Herron, a professor of contemporary American culture at Wayne State University.

He doesn't consider that a negative.

"These are signs of a healthy democratic impulse that doesn't get expressed in the usual way -- voting and running for office," Herron said. "And they tend not to be forums for the cranky and disaffected looking for commiseration."

Dan DeTone, a sophomore at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills, said a site like http://www.ratemyteachers.com/ is a good idea, although he's never posted a comment or rating.

"It gives kids a chance to express their feelings about school. A lot of times you can't," said the 15-year-old.

One fact that can't be disputed is its reach: http://www.ratemyteachers.com/ gets more than 50,000 visits a day and so far has tallied some 9 million ratings, which are based on a teacher's easiness, helpfulness and clarity.

Students make up 95% of the users, and parents make up the rest, said site founder Michael Hussey, a New Yorker who comes from a family of teachers and has worked as a substitute teacher himself. He notes that the majority of ratings on the site -- 70% -- are flattering.

Like those posted for Novi High School science teacher Jeff Burnside, calling him "amazing" and "awesome."

Emily Esbrook, a junior at Novi High School, said she has never posted on the site, but agrees with the comments about Burnside. She has had him as a teacher.

"I like just how he was fun, yet he still taught you everything you had to know," the 17-year-old Novi resident said.

Burnside, 29, said he appreciates the flattering comments on the Web site, but he doesn't need them to tell him how he's doing as a teacher.

"I don't thrive on being liked, but it makes things more comfortable for the kids when everybody likes each other," Burnside said. "If they're having fun in the classroom, I can trick them into learning."

As for the negative comments, Hussey said they can still be of use to teachers.

"Those teachers who embrace it, they've told us they'll read things on the Web site and sometimes they'll find little things they're not aware of and go back to the classroom and mention it: 'Do I show too many videos? Is it boring?' "

Hussey, 27, also has launched http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/, which allows students to weigh in about their professors, and practically speaking, to guide their course selections.

Some steps have been taken to monitor negative statements on http://www.ratemyteachers.com/.

For instance, a new section allows teachers to respond to their critics. So far, 1,500 have, Hussey said.

Vendettas aren't tolerated, either: A teacher can receive only one rating per computer -- and if a comment is too scorching or suspicious, any user can flag it. Hussey and his staff will then pull the comment and review it.

Still, many districts believe they're right to bar students from the site -- at least while at school, since they have no control over what a student does at home.

"I don't see it as a form of censorship," said Jay Young, spokesman for Livonia Public Schools, which blocked access to the Web site three years ago after learning that a student was telling classmates to go online to skewer a teacher he didn't like.

Oakland University student Brian Boehmer posted two comments last year about teachers at Troy High, his alma mater. But he's still ambivalent about the value of the site.

Boehmer, 21, said that multiple negative comments about one teacher might indicate a problem teacher. But a single posting isn't very useful.

Some parents aren't sure of its benefits, either.

Mary Jones, a Detroiter who has two boys in high school, agreed there are better ways to judge a teacher than logging onto a site like http://www.ratemyteachers.com/. Grades, for example.

"If they're bad, I feel she's not reaching that student. If she was, the grades would be good," said Jones, 60, who admitted that sometimes her kids are at fault for not paying attention in class.

Contact JULIE EDGAR at 248-351-3294 or edgar@freepress.com. Staff writer Teresa Mask contributed to this report.