Professor
Derrick Hindery
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Most Helpful Review
Although the class was entitled "Humid Tropics," implying that the subject matter would cover a wide variety of habitats and ecosystems around the globe, Hindery confined his classes to the examination of the Chiquitano Forest of Bolivia and its devastation at the hands of oil companies. The fact that we didn't even cover what the humid tropics ARE disturbed me a bit. This class turned out to be a quarter-long discussion of Hindery's own graduate research and forum for his own ranting, and it shows - presentations are poorly organized and narrow in scope, frequently showing only a skewed perspective of the problem at hand. While the class is ultimately rather easy, the frustration of having to hear about that damn Chiquitano Forest every day may start to wear you out a little, especially when you were hoping to learn what the Registrar page said you'd be learning.
Although the class was entitled "Humid Tropics," implying that the subject matter would cover a wide variety of habitats and ecosystems around the globe, Hindery confined his classes to the examination of the Chiquitano Forest of Bolivia and its devastation at the hands of oil companies. The fact that we didn't even cover what the humid tropics ARE disturbed me a bit. This class turned out to be a quarter-long discussion of Hindery's own graduate research and forum for his own ranting, and it shows - presentations are poorly organized and narrow in scope, frequently showing only a skewed perspective of the problem at hand. While the class is ultimately rather easy, the frustration of having to hear about that damn Chiquitano Forest every day may start to wear you out a little, especially when you were hoping to learn what the Registrar page said you'd be learning.
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Most Helpful Review
Entering UCLA as a freshman, my private-college friends all told me that all the professors at UCLA were more concerned with their research than their teaching. However, not until I took a class with Hindery did I ever feel this was true. Hindery was completely immersed in his research, to the point that he put no effort into lectures and made no effort to be available for students to consult. In fact, I dont even think he knew what the class was about: in a course titled "Natural Resource Use in Developing Nations", we spent a whole lot of time reading about the United States. With that said, his research was interesting and it was fun to hear him talk passionately about it in class. That, combined with the fact that I earned an easy A in this class, makes me cautiously reccomend him to anyone who loves easy once a week classes as much as I do.
Entering UCLA as a freshman, my private-college friends all told me that all the professors at UCLA were more concerned with their research than their teaching. However, not until I took a class with Hindery did I ever feel this was true. Hindery was completely immersed in his research, to the point that he put no effort into lectures and made no effort to be available for students to consult. In fact, I dont even think he knew what the class was about: in a course titled "Natural Resource Use in Developing Nations", we spent a whole lot of time reading about the United States. With that said, his research was interesting and it was fun to hear him talk passionately about it in class. That, combined with the fact that I earned an easy A in this class, makes me cautiously reccomend him to anyone who loves easy once a week classes as much as I do.
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