Professor
Ruben Hernandez-Leon
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Heernandez-Leon is the worst professor at UCLA. What kind of professor gives 3 surprise quizzes worth 10% each? WTF is that about? Not only are there surprise quizzes, but you're required to do a 10-12 page paper on an ethnic enclaves. The paper itself was too time consuming. He does not care about his students and his lectures are boring. Don't take this class if you don't like reading over a 100 pages a night and spending your free time researching your final paper!
Professor Heernandez-Leon is the worst professor at UCLA. What kind of professor gives 3 surprise quizzes worth 10% each? WTF is that about? Not only are there surprise quizzes, but you're required to do a 10-12 page paper on an ethnic enclaves. The paper itself was too time consuming. He does not care about his students and his lectures are boring. Don't take this class if you don't like reading over a 100 pages a night and spending your free time researching your final paper!
Most Helpful Review
Look, I'm not going to use this space to attack the guy. He's obviously a smart person, and he has accomplished a lot in the field of sociology and immigration studies (check out his CV). HOWEVER, I do feel obligated to take advantage of what BruinWalk is meant for and hopefully provide an objective appraisal of RHL's teaching abilities for future students who are considering his class. The PROs: First of all, the people who claim that this class is difficult or who claim RHL is racist are probably the same students who I saw every day on FB or doing their online shopping during class.. and most likely the same people who are likely saying the same thing about all their professors who don't give them easy As. RHL is not boring (for the most part) and even tries to be pleasant. Having said that… The CONs: 1. There is A LOT of reading. Now, I'm not one to normally complain about this for a class since, hello, it IS A UNIVERSITY and we are COLLEGE STUDENTS. But I think it is a valid complaint when A) the professor makes you purchase "required" texts but then never assigns them, and B) he assigns you 100-200 pages of "required" reading per WEEK but never refers back to those same readings in his lectures. Dude, "required" versus "suggested"… look it up. 2. He has 3 surprise pop quizzes which total 30% of your final grade. At first glance, they might not seem difficult (10 pts. each, multiple choice, T/F, short answer) but they are a big pain in the butt because his quizzes are tricky (the questions are vague and the answers ambiguous at times). Oh, and he doesn't give them back, and it is super difficult to go over the results with him or his TA. 3. The FINAL makes up 50% of your grade. Don't expect a lot of assistance from RHL, and you better well pray you get a really helpful TA because you're pretty much on your own for the final paper (which is a 15 page ethnographic thesis paper). If you've done ethnographic studies before you should be fine… and even then it's a long-shot because RHL will deduct points for the smallest thing such as grammatical errors! Overall: The subject matter is interesting (or at least it was for me but this is my "specialty"), and RHL is definitely an expert in the field. However, despite his expertise, he is not an effective educator. I'm not saying I need someone to hold my hand through the course but I definitely don't need someone to make it harder for me to learn by placing these insane obstacles in front of me and call them "quizzes"... or assign an incredibly complex research paper that takes a lot more time than is given AND have so much of my final grade riding on it. Bottom line: An A is almost impossible to get in RHL's class. I busted my butt and I got a B. I like a challenge in my studies but this was ridiculous. I do not recommend RHL.
Look, I'm not going to use this space to attack the guy. He's obviously a smart person, and he has accomplished a lot in the field of sociology and immigration studies (check out his CV). HOWEVER, I do feel obligated to take advantage of what BruinWalk is meant for and hopefully provide an objective appraisal of RHL's teaching abilities for future students who are considering his class. The PROs: First of all, the people who claim that this class is difficult or who claim RHL is racist are probably the same students who I saw every day on FB or doing their online shopping during class.. and most likely the same people who are likely saying the same thing about all their professors who don't give them easy As. RHL is not boring (for the most part) and even tries to be pleasant. Having said that… The CONs: 1. There is A LOT of reading. Now, I'm not one to normally complain about this for a class since, hello, it IS A UNIVERSITY and we are COLLEGE STUDENTS. But I think it is a valid complaint when A) the professor makes you purchase "required" texts but then never assigns them, and B) he assigns you 100-200 pages of "required" reading per WEEK but never refers back to those same readings in his lectures. Dude, "required" versus "suggested"… look it up. 2. He has 3 surprise pop quizzes which total 30% of your final grade. At first glance, they might not seem difficult (10 pts. each, multiple choice, T/F, short answer) but they are a big pain in the butt because his quizzes are tricky (the questions are vague and the answers ambiguous at times). Oh, and he doesn't give them back, and it is super difficult to go over the results with him or his TA. 3. The FINAL makes up 50% of your grade. Don't expect a lot of assistance from RHL, and you better well pray you get a really helpful TA because you're pretty much on your own for the final paper (which is a 15 page ethnographic thesis paper). If you've done ethnographic studies before you should be fine… and even then it's a long-shot because RHL will deduct points for the smallest thing such as grammatical errors! Overall: The subject matter is interesting (or at least it was for me but this is my "specialty"), and RHL is definitely an expert in the field. However, despite his expertise, he is not an effective educator. I'm not saying I need someone to hold my hand through the course but I definitely don't need someone to make it harder for me to learn by placing these insane obstacles in front of me and call them "quizzes"... or assign an incredibly complex research paper that takes a lot more time than is given AND have so much of my final grade riding on it. Bottom line: An A is almost impossible to get in RHL's class. I busted my butt and I got a B. I like a challenge in my studies but this was ridiculous. I do not recommend RHL.
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