Professor

John Langdon

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Easiness N/A/ 5
Clarity N/A/ 5
Workload N/A/ 5
Helpfulness N/A/ 5
Overall Rating 4.2
Easiness 2.8/ 5
Clarity 4.2/ 5
Workload 2.9/ 5
Helpfulness 4.4/ 5
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. I have no idea how it has such high reviews on bruinwalk. Genuinely one of the worst professors I've ever had. He is constantly interrupting class to give his take on whatever he saw on TV this morning. Don't take this class unless you want to hear an 85 year old's opinion on everything that is going on in the world. I've never met a professor so full of himself. He would not stop talking the entire midterm. He graded midterms in front of us out loud as we were taking the midterm. He is constantly talking about "greco-roman heritage", uses the word "barbarian" like it is a slur, is constantly describing teenage or younger women in history as "perky" or "hookers". He brings up "the filthy turk" or "illiterate unwashed sacarens", and is just always feeding into racial stereotypes that are disgusting. The last lecture I listened to he made up that downtown LA was destroyed after a basketball game was won, which is 1. not true and 2. a disgusting racial stereotype! I have no idea how he still works here! According to him, we need to bring back the national draft and there are too many immigrants in the army (they're not loyal to the US apparently). This is a man stuck in the 50s. He's incredibly condescending and is almost unbearable to listen to for long periods of time, going on the same rants over and over. He's very passionate about the subject and makes the content somewhat clear as long as you keep the class reader near and dear to your heart, but is very much stuck in the old-fashioned way of learning and doing history. Great men, names and dates, linear timelines that you have to know beat-by-beat. My least favorite professor I've had the displeasure of taking at UCLA.
Easiness 2.2/ 5
Clarity 4.8/ 5
Workload 3.0/ 5
Helpfulness 4.8/ 5
Most Helpful Review
I usually don't do reviews since I am lazy, but I had to make an exception Professor Langdon since he is the nicest, most caring professor I had ever taken. Like others have mentioned, Professor Langdon's class is not easy. In lecture, he throws out a lot of information so that it is hard to keep up even after you did your readings. But, if you go back home and listen to his lectures again, the information will start to get clearer. As for his tests, I felt it was extremely reasonable. For my class, we had 2 mandatory tests, each worth about 50% of the grade. We had objective questions, an essay and a historical paragraph. He also curved the test, which was very nice of him. This is by far the nicest professor I have ever met. I lost my course reader about halfway through the course and the professor offered to borrow his course reader for the duration of the course. Of course, I ended up finding my course reader, but the gesture was really thoughtful. Also, during class one day, a girl spilled coffee in class and the professor was extremely gentle about it. Another time, someone's phone rang off and he didn't make a big deal out of this either. He also makes a conscious effort to get to learn the students' names. The professor's passion and knowledge comes through in both his lectures and his course reader. You could tell that he put in a lot of time into his course reader and that he cares about the student's learning. Would I retake a class with Professor Langdon? Maybe. I am not sure if I want to work that hard again. Do I regret taking a class with this Professor? No, since I learned so much in a short amount of time. I should also mention that I took HIST 114C, 6 week session during Summer Session A. (I could not find this as an option, so I chose Hist M116C). I would assume that the regular 10 week session is more rigorous.
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