Professor
Linda Garro
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Professor Garro is a very knowledgable scholar, but an absolutely terrible lecturer. Her lectures are mostly explanations of readings for that week, but her explanations were hard to follow due to her constant stuttering, lack of proper wording, and confusing use of quotes from readings. This accompanied with uninformative slides which often do not pertain to what she is saying, made listening to her feel more like a headache than a relief from understanding the class material. The lack of coherent structure in her lectures made it confusing to take lecture notes due to the frequent rubber banding between going back and going forward on content and concepts. As for the material itself, there's 1 to 3 readings of 6 to 30 pages required per week from her own work published in the early 2000s or from older medical anthropologists' publications from the 1970s to 1990s. The contents of the material were not too hard to follow, but most of them included complex themes and concepts were often confusing and needed further explanation are severely lacking, as previously stated. Lastly her attitude towards the class was supposedly very supportive and positive, according to the TA, but Garro's interaction with the class has mostly been absent or otherwise negative. In the earlier weeks of the class she used to ask questions but as the students answered her question, she would reply with an uninterested "Ok" until one student barely scratches the "right" answer which no one but her seemed to have been able to guess correctly. Other times, she would outright tell the student they are wrong or give a sarcastic answer of 'Is it?' while trying to speak over them without letting them finish their thought/answer. Unsurprisingly the students stopped participating in fear they would just be dismissed for attempting. Overall, I would not recommend Garro. Her class has been the most unenjoyable experience I've had in my 4 years in UCLA. The content I've consumed from this class seemed to just turn me further towards disgust and annoyance about a topic that initially interested me due to its premise of understanding cultures' approach to medicine. Garro's teaching seemed to have entirely dismissed the objective truths we know about biomedicine while exoticising the non-Western approaches to medicine.
Fall 2019 - Professor Garro is a very knowledgable scholar, but an absolutely terrible lecturer. Her lectures are mostly explanations of readings for that week, but her explanations were hard to follow due to her constant stuttering, lack of proper wording, and confusing use of quotes from readings. This accompanied with uninformative slides which often do not pertain to what she is saying, made listening to her feel more like a headache than a relief from understanding the class material. The lack of coherent structure in her lectures made it confusing to take lecture notes due to the frequent rubber banding between going back and going forward on content and concepts. As for the material itself, there's 1 to 3 readings of 6 to 30 pages required per week from her own work published in the early 2000s or from older medical anthropologists' publications from the 1970s to 1990s. The contents of the material were not too hard to follow, but most of them included complex themes and concepts were often confusing and needed further explanation are severely lacking, as previously stated. Lastly her attitude towards the class was supposedly very supportive and positive, according to the TA, but Garro's interaction with the class has mostly been absent or otherwise negative. In the earlier weeks of the class she used to ask questions but as the students answered her question, she would reply with an uninterested "Ok" until one student barely scratches the "right" answer which no one but her seemed to have been able to guess correctly. Other times, she would outright tell the student they are wrong or give a sarcastic answer of 'Is it?' while trying to speak over them without letting them finish their thought/answer. Unsurprisingly the students stopped participating in fear they would just be dismissed for attempting. Overall, I would not recommend Garro. Her class has been the most unenjoyable experience I've had in my 4 years in UCLA. The content I've consumed from this class seemed to just turn me further towards disgust and annoyance about a topic that initially interested me due to its premise of understanding cultures' approach to medicine. Garro's teaching seemed to have entirely dismissed the objective truths we know about biomedicine while exoticising the non-Western approaches to medicine.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - The lectures feel pointless. It’s just slides with random quotes that aren’t even part in the assigned readings. She spent the first few weeks complaining about being online. Repetitive and unorganized. Not even the TA knew what was going on. I’m not sure what I was supposed to take from this class…Don’t recommend
Fall 2021 - The lectures feel pointless. It’s just slides with random quotes that aren’t even part in the assigned readings. She spent the first few weeks complaining about being online. Repetitive and unorganized. Not even the TA knew what was going on. I’m not sure what I was supposed to take from this class…Don’t recommend
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Oh, Dr. Garro. This will be a fun class. Hopefully, you will bond with your cohort and come to love your project. She is fun, adaptable, and really listens. I feel bad because it's really hard teaching a seminar like this. She's sweet, but there are for sure annoying moments with research. Her comments felt a little random at times, and it was hard to understand what she meant or wanted. It felt like the criticism would come intensely and randomly, almost without warning. Other times, it was hard to tell if we were doing a good job or not. A lot of people worried about their grades, but just be aware: She is a CHILL grader. Just try to make the best proposal you can, because it'll make your life easier going forward. Rely on your cohort. It really helps through the program!
Spring 2020 - Oh, Dr. Garro. This will be a fun class. Hopefully, you will bond with your cohort and come to love your project. She is fun, adaptable, and really listens. I feel bad because it's really hard teaching a seminar like this. She's sweet, but there are for sure annoying moments with research. Her comments felt a little random at times, and it was hard to understand what she meant or wanted. It felt like the criticism would come intensely and randomly, almost without warning. Other times, it was hard to tell if we were doing a good job or not. A lot of people worried about their grades, but just be aware: She is a CHILL grader. Just try to make the best proposal you can, because it'll make your life easier going forward. Rely on your cohort. It really helps through the program!
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