| Information | Review |
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Robert Choflet
AASP100 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2025 |
Robert Choflet is an extremely chill and laid back professor with extremely based takes on American society. I do have to agree with the review below that it was kinda annoying to talk to him since he would randomly cancel classes and it was impossible to reach him through email. The readings were also too much but you can just skim them since we discussed the readings in class anyways. It is true that he takes forever to grade things. However I have no idea what the dudes talking about when saying hes condescending an unfriendly, I found the dude to be super friendly. For example, part of our midterm was a take home writing assignment that was due at midnight. I accidentally went past midnight and the assignment on elms was closed and I panicked. I sent him my assignment through email as proof I did it and when asked him about it he said it was fine and not to worry, so that should show how nice he is. Hes always interested in our opinions on his topics and was completely fine with us disagreeing with him. Whenever we ask questions he always responds in a thoughtful manner and in a way to assure us our questions weren't dumb. Hes very generous with grading, one of my writing assignments was lowkey the worst essay I've probably ever written and he gave me a 100% on it. Also the guy below was complaining about the midterm but the midterm was so light. He gave us an hour and 15 minutes to do 15 multiple choice questions and the questions were so easy. I had barely done the readings and just showed up to class and I finished it in like 10 minutes and got a 100%. TLDR: Interesting class with a laid back and based professor who grades generously |
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Robert Choflet
AASP100 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/08/2025 |
Don't get me wrong, the content was interesting and important to learn about, but Dr. Choflet was not a professor that should be teaching this course. He loves to cancel class which is good in theory, but this restricts you from asking questions -- he never once responded to an email I sent him. He doesn't have lectures or slideshows, so taking notes and attending class is necessary. What I found to be strange was that we had a 30 person class and Dr. Choflet never once asked us our names or got to know us. He is extremely condescending and not an approachable or friendly person. And there is SO much reading especially for a 100 level course. We had three projects that were discussion based and weekly paragraphs or essays depending on the week. The midterm study guide was a list of all 26 readings and 80 vocab terms, so it was not helpful at all. I would not recommend this professor at all, I heard other ones are better. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/08/2025 |
He's really chill and a nice guy and lectures aren't mandatory. There's an assignment due every friday and overall course workload is light. My issues are that the lectures aren't slide based and its all discussion based, which I felt negatively impacted me when it came time to reviewing material because its ALL based on long readings that are really annoying to go back and find things or study. Its a lot of reading for this class and you can get away with not doing it untillllll he based the entire midterm on specific things from the reading that we barely talked about. It was unnecessarily hard and not open note like he had apparently done in past semesters. There was no final for this class. I also felt like he didn't give enough notice for bigger projects at the end of the year which left a bit of cramming. He takes forever to grade and doesn't have TAs so I have no idea what grade I'm going to have and the sem is about to end This class isn't really terrible overall and he cares a lot about the material, but I took it for a gen ed and its currently my lowest grade right now so keep that in mind |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/08/2025 |
was a little shocked to have a white dude be my professor on African American Studies, but the class was good. No slides just straight lectures/ discussions |
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Robert Choflet
Expecting an A Anonymous 01/23/2025 |
I took this class online in the winter of 2025 and honestly it was pretty chill. He hosted 2 meetings through zoom. But other than that, there wasn't much engagement from the professor which is ok. All of the learning about mass incarceration came from the readings. Alexander's The New Jim Crow and Marakawa's The first Civil Right were the most essential texts. I learned so really cool stuff from them and these are books I will be finishing outside of the class. I would recommend it this course! It takes some effort ( Effort Rating: 3.5/5) and you come out with at least a better more informed idea of mass incarceration. . You do need to at least read some of the Alexander and Marakawa texts because you're asked to get on a zoom meeting and discuss them in groups. But as long as you have some information from each chapter, you'll be good! |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/19/2024 |
Honestly one of the best classes I've had at UMD to date. The man loves what he teaches and he's so laid back that it's a perfect combo. He's quite knowledgeable in African American studies and by the end you will be too. There was quite a lot of reading and each chapter was at least 45 pages but if you skim, you'll likely get the gist. Also, the best part was that the very next class he'd explain the readings to you anyways and there weren't any assignments attached typically. There were a couple of group assignments, reading journals/black culture projects and then there was the mid-term and final which were both open notes. If you want to learn while also taking a fairly easier A (not easy just easier), I'd definitely recommend this one for you. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2023 |
If you have the chance to be taught by Professor Choflet, do it. He asks questions to get to know his students, and he genuinely loves what he does, which is reflected in the way he teaches. The assignments are not hard at all, but sometimes the readings are a lot. As someone who reads for fun outside of class, I got really good at skimming through books, which is an extremely helpful ability in this class. You will be okay to miss a couple of readings, but if anything, go to class. I feel like a bulk of the content is reviewed in class by him anyway, so even if you are behind in the reading, the lectures will help you catch up. I took this class for a GenEd, so I wasn't expecting much, but this was easily my favorite class of this semester, and a lot of it is owed to Choflet. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2023 |
AASP202 was okay. It was a lot of reading which was a lot. We did 2 big group projects throughout the semester. The mid-term and final aren't too bad though as they are open note, but it is important to note you know the content and review. Dr. Choflet was a nice and chill professor too. Only thing that was frustrating was how he did not answer emails, and took a long time to grade. He was kind of a little boring too, and the class size diminished as the semester went on. If you need a gen-ed this is a good course but we warned you must put in effort to get a good grade. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/29/2022 |
Great Professor and great course. Class focused on major readings and group projects, but it was chill. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/10/2022 |
Great professor, definitely cares about the topic and is super knowledgeable as well. The class was easy, and did not require much commitment. The midterm and final had study sets on Quizlet already made that I used to study for them, so it made test prep super easy. Dr. Choflet was very responsive and it seemed like he cared a lot about our learning. For most of the course, what you put in is what you'll get out. It doesn't take much to get a good grade in the course, but if you genuinely want to learn more about Black Culture in the U.S., it's up to you to pay attention and do the readings. Overall, it was a good class, and if you are looking to get some GenEds out of the way, its great for that. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/08/2021 |
Overall great professor. He was responsive to concerns and questions that everyone else had, and he made sure to communicate any schedule changes ahead of time for adequate preparation. He is a nice guy and genuinely wants everyone to succeed in class. Three things: 1) It takes him awhile to grade stuff. I took this class in the fall and some of the assignments from October were not graded until Thanksgiving. 2) He assigns a lot of readings. It's not too overwhelming, but as someone taking 2 math classes at the same time, it was a little much in terms of a personal workload 3) Lectures can get a little dry in the latter half of class. The more people who participate, the better it gets. |
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Robert Choflet
AASP202H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/12/2021 |
I had Professor Choflet for AASP202H and I really enjoyed the class! He was very accommodating and understanding with students, something that was especially appreciated in our current times. He varied the class between live discussions and prerecorded lectures, which I think was very effective because it was easier to keep up with and made the class itself more interactive. It is a lot of reading- something that he stated very clearly on the first day- but most of it is relevant and if you are interested in black culture, you can find them interesting. And even if you have trouble with a reading, he will probably go over it in class. I also really enjoyed how he included current cultural and artistic pieces like films, photography, music and more. Overall, I would recommend this class to anyone considering it! The honors work was the same as the AASP202 work, so all of this also applies to the class in general. I would recommend taking Professor Choflet if you have the chance to! |