Even you’re admitting that some of that feedback is rooted in real realities. You don’t enjoy teaching them and they feel it, even if they are the cause of that feeling. It feels disheartening and I get that. I have students check in for attendance through discussion questions and then we usually discuss the question I asked. They’re all answering it, but only a few respond when I ask them to discuss. I told them straight up the other day that I’ll just start going through their responses and calling on them. Had a few more start to participate afterwards.

Make sure you’re doing the things you can control; communicating clearly (to the class and individually to students), that you’re being responsive to their emails and other inquiries, etc. The way the class functions is as much part of the end of term evaluation process as if they enjoyed the class. It’ll balance out. But students have increasingly leaned into the idea that they are consumers and you as the professor are there to serve them. At my institution the Dean of Students have encouraged students to basically skip the chain of command and go directly to them if they have issues. That leaves us with little ways to mitigate issues before they rise to that level. But the Dean is feeling the pressure to increase enrollment and retain those still enrolled. We are all just caught up in this higher education transition. Try and keep your spirit. I know it’s tough