Personally as a ref, and my first year as a high school ref, I can honestly say I hate the two man system. There are times that you can't possibly see everything that needs to be seen, and you know it, but you try to do your best. The two man system puts the refs at a disadvantage, and makes them look bad. As for rating refs, I can go along with that, as long as the refs can rate the coaches. There are too many times that the problems on the field come directly from the antoganist relationship that the coach has with the ref. It gives the kids the impression that the ref doesn't know what he/she is doing. This may be the case sometimes, but it can get out of hand, and sometimes it may even begin to interrupt with the flow of the game.
I understand that there needs to be some sort of rating system in place. But this needs to start with the offical training. I believe that all officials need to be USSF certified. I also believe that we need to have refs that can keep up with the play. These refs that are too out of shape should not be on the field, it makes us all look bad. I started to ref this past year because of the poor officiating. Hopefully we can all improve and make the game that much better.
