Great class. Great professor. Goes out of his way to help students. But your grade is based solely on who your TA is. My TA was Kathryn Robinette. Kathryn was nice but graded much harder than the other TA's and this had a negative effect on my experience in this class. Get Carl as your TA and your golden.

Best professor I've had at UCLA so far, by a large margin. His lectures are absolutely incredible. The material may seem difficult on the surface, and it's easy to get lost towards the beginning of the class, but I think the study questions he provides are really useful in guiding your learning. I thought political philosophy was really interesting, but take that with a grain of salt since I tend to characterize myself as a pretty intellectual type of person.

The "pop" quizzes are relatively easy and straightforward if you do the reading. He'll drop the lowest one or two in case you miss one or you epically screw up so it won't affect your grade that much. There are two take-home essays, one is really short and the other is 8-10 pages, which isn't bad. The prompts are not trick questions and they can all be answered by a close reading of the material. And it helps to be a strong academic writer since the TAs were apparently concerned that a lot of students didn't know how to write very well. The final wasn't too bad since a lot of it was drawn from the study guide questions he gave us and went over three possible essay prompts the week before. I got an A+ in the course with a reasonable amount of effort.

Even if political theory isn't quite up your alley you should probably be taking this class anyway, just to have the satisfaction of having taken one of Professor Walker's classes.

he is honestly an amazing professor. he cares about his class, and although the reading can get too difficult at times, he always goes over the important stuff. he is also super nice. i mean, he gives you 5 pop quizzes, if they are even considered "pop" and he lets you keep the best 3 grades. he is so cute and adorable, i just want to frame him and put him in my living room and listen to him talk about Canada! PLUS he gave out christmas candy as we walked out of his final, which was definitely an amazing end to my quarter. if you are a polisci major, take his class. it may be difficult, but absolutely worth it! take him take him take him!

PS 10:

If you're a Poli Sci major like me, you should take Dr. Walker's PS 10 class. If you don't, then you'll be doing a great disservice to yourself because Dr. Walker offers an interesting, passionate, and intellectual analysis on political philosophy that will afford you with a solid foundation for the remainder of your Poli Sci classes. I didn't think the reading was too much (I had 4 classes for Fall 10) but the reading wasn't light either. The workload was slightly more than my other classes, however, the main difference was that the material was complex, so I couldn't read through it fast. He gives "pop quizzes" and they are based off of the readings (straightforward). My TA was Karl N.S., I recommend him. Overall, Dr. Walker is a tier 1 professor at UCLA and I have no negative comments about PS 10.

Philosophy Walk:

Dr. Walker also offers Philosophy Walk which, is a smaller sized honors class that must be taken concurrently with PS 10. It's similar to a discussion hour class but you have no TA, and it's only Professor Walker (it's a seminar style class). I enjoyed the comprehensive class Reader, his high level of attention to each student, and the overall engagement by Dr. Walker with us, and students amongst ourselves made me crave this class. Philosophy Walk was reminiscent to how one would envision the ancient philosophers gathered in parks to discuss the nuances of politics, liberty, justice, and equality among many other topics.

Both PS 10 and Philosophy Walk are intellectually stimulating, so if they are offered by Dr. Walker again, I highly recommend them!

He's passionate about teaching and very lively. He may be characterized as Robin Williams' intellectual Canadian brother. The main problem with Prof. Walker is that he assigns too much work. While some may find it interesting and eye opening for others such as myself it is a snooze fest. I am currently studying for his final which he actually gave us the questions and potential essays for. He's an excellent teacher but the material is boring but rewarding. I fell asleep numerous times reading Walden and especially Mill! Aristotle was the best read and Rack's Rules (I hope he doesn't eliminate this reading it was sooooo entertaining). The quizzes are 5 questions and Walker showed his empathy and compassion by allowing us to drop 2 of the lowest quizzes. I do highly recommend him if you're into Thoreau, Aristotle, or that philosophy junk (also to those that hate philosophy since the take away points help you in your daily life). An example of a teaching of Walker that helped me push myself in the gym was Aristotle. The idea that only slaves and inferiors can dominate the body was just beautiful. Walker's readings may be boring but you will learn lifelong lessons. In conclusion, boring but rewarding.