Professor
Paul Von Blum
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Von Blum is one of the best professors I have ever taken at UCLA. It is so clear that he is immensely passionate about the subject he teaches and has a lot of first hand experiences with the subject matter. This class deal heavily with the history of protest in the united states, mostly sticking to the 1900s to the 1960s. If you like history, I would absolutely recommend this class as I learned so much. The way the class works is that there is a midterm and a final paper that makes up most of your grade, and you will receive a letter grade for your score on each paper. There is a final, but it is more like a quiz and if you come to every class and only half pay attention you will easily do well on the final. While Von Blum stated he does not give out A+ in his class, the class is an easy A as long as you come to class and skim over the readings. The TA's are super helpful and grade the papers which takes off some of the pressure as they grade fairly easily. Von Blum is such a passionate, funny guy and I would definitely recommend taking this class. The ONLY downside is the class is normally only offered at night and is three hours, but thats it!
Fall 2024 - Von Blum is one of the best professors I have ever taken at UCLA. It is so clear that he is immensely passionate about the subject he teaches and has a lot of first hand experiences with the subject matter. This class deal heavily with the history of protest in the united states, mostly sticking to the 1900s to the 1960s. If you like history, I would absolutely recommend this class as I learned so much. The way the class works is that there is a midterm and a final paper that makes up most of your grade, and you will receive a letter grade for your score on each paper. There is a final, but it is more like a quiz and if you come to every class and only half pay attention you will easily do well on the final. While Von Blum stated he does not give out A+ in his class, the class is an easy A as long as you come to class and skim over the readings. The TA's are super helpful and grade the papers which takes off some of the pressure as they grade fairly easily. Von Blum is such a passionate, funny guy and I would definitely recommend taking this class. The ONLY downside is the class is normally only offered at night and is three hours, but thats it!
Most Helpful Review
Von Blum was great but DO NOT GET ERIN AS A T.A.!!! Von Blum was an incredible professor, with only 2 papers- no tests- completely manageable work load. He also podcasts his lectures so you can make up any classes you have to miss online. This class would be perfect and an easy A, but Erin, the girl T.A. graded her sections so harshly that her entire class banded together to complain after realizing she did not give a single person in the class a grade higher then a B+ on the midterm paper. In addition to this, she added a zero credit but mandatory presentation to all of her discussion sections. Take Von Blum, but GET ANOTHER T.A. BESIDES ERIN PETTIGREW!!!
Von Blum was great but DO NOT GET ERIN AS A T.A.!!! Von Blum was an incredible professor, with only 2 papers- no tests- completely manageable work load. He also podcasts his lectures so you can make up any classes you have to miss online. This class would be perfect and an easy A, but Erin, the girl T.A. graded her sections so harshly that her entire class banded together to complain after realizing she did not give a single person in the class a grade higher then a B+ on the midterm paper. In addition to this, she added a zero credit but mandatory presentation to all of her discussion sections. Take Von Blum, but GET ANOTHER T.A. BESIDES ERIN PETTIGREW!!!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - The class itself was really easy. There was only one assignment that we had to complete the entire quarter. It was a 20 page research paper. You do not need to attend his lectures to do well on the paper. If anything, go to office hours to clear up confusion. Other than the light workload, I really did not like the class. He said that we are allowed to freely express our political views in class, but you’re really only allowed to say things that go in line with what he views as correct (left-wing extremism). The other students in the class (who were even farther left) acted as thought police to shut people down who have differing opinions (thoughtcrime). I had to stop going to his lectures because they were basically a 3 hour version of 1984’s “Two Minutes Hate” towards the Republican Party. The only reason why I would take this class again is because it is 5 units of easy A.
Winter 2021 - The class itself was really easy. There was only one assignment that we had to complete the entire quarter. It was a 20 page research paper. You do not need to attend his lectures to do well on the paper. If anything, go to office hours to clear up confusion. Other than the light workload, I really did not like the class. He said that we are allowed to freely express our political views in class, but you’re really only allowed to say things that go in line with what he views as correct (left-wing extremism). The other students in the class (who were even farther left) acted as thought police to shut people down who have differing opinions (thoughtcrime). I had to stop going to his lectures because they were basically a 3 hour version of 1984’s “Two Minutes Hate” towards the Republican Party. The only reason why I would take this class again is because it is 5 units of easy A.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - This guy cares about his students. Period. You would have to try your hardest if you wanted a poor grade in this class. 1. Show up 2. No hw 3. Final paper is your entire grade. Not a tough grader at all. You always pick the topic of your own paper. 4. One quiz, worth 5% of your grade. THIS MAN IS AN ANGEL!
Fall 2020 - This guy cares about his students. Period. You would have to try your hardest if you wanted a poor grade in this class. 1. Show up 2. No hw 3. Final paper is your entire grade. Not a tough grader at all. You always pick the topic of your own paper. 4. One quiz, worth 5% of your grade. THIS MAN IS AN ANGEL!
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Professor Von Blum is amazing!! He really cares about all of his students! Classes can feel a little long, and he doesn't record/post any slides. No midterm/final just 2 papers (which he assigns with enough time) and one final quiz so you need to have a basic understanding of the material (films and books) to do well.
Fall 2023 - Professor Von Blum is amazing!! He really cares about all of his students! Classes can feel a little long, and he doesn't record/post any slides. No midterm/final just 2 papers (which he assigns with enough time) and one final quiz so you need to have a basic understanding of the material (films and books) to do well.
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