Arthur Eckstein

This professor has taught: HIST110, HIST319C, HIST319J, HIST324, HIST325, HIST326, HIST408I, HIST408M, HIST619I, HIST639T

Sort By:

Information	Review
Arthur Eckstein HIST326 Anonymous 01/31/2019	Took his class couple years ago. Worst professor I've ever had. What a bitter old man. He was very opinionated, and it was annoying. Keep your modern political view to yourself. If I want to know how bad Trump as a president is, I would sign up a political science or whatever class instead of a course of the damn Roman republic. Even I'm interested in the ancient history in general, his class just made you feel sleepy. Pretty pointless class since you can get most stuff from Wikipedia.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/16/2014	This class will end up feeling more like an English class than anything else. Eckstein is a good teacher, but he delegates all control to your TA, which can either be really good or really bad, depending on who your TA is. The most important thing about the class is that you read the two books he assigns. They're actually fairly interesting, and you're going to have to use them for an essay and for the two exams. My TA was somewhat erratic. I got an A in this class, but our entire section received horrible grades on our essays because our TA had decided to grade more strictly than the other TA's, which is unbelievably unfair. He had a very specific argument in mind for our papers; if we didn't argue using his points, we (in his mind) were wrong. Since when can you grade an argumentative paper with a checklist? My TA also had a bad habit of getting upset if he thought students weren't reading the material. I'll admit, only about half our section put forth any effort, but our TA would storm out of the classroom and get all angry if he called on a student who didn't seem like he/she knew much about the readings. It was EXTREMELY frustrating for those of us who had read.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Anonymous 12/30/2013	Poor lecturer. He has some very interesting insights, but they're few and far-between. Admittedly, this is a 100-level course, so I was not expecting any content intended to be taken particularly seriously. The course covers far too broad a swath of history to actually learn anything worthwhile that couldn't be gleaned from Wikipedia, though Eckstein is absolutely vehement about students not getting their information from the internet. Three assignments for the whole semester, all take-home essays, totaling maybe 8-10 hours of work. There's a moderate amount of reading assigned, but you can get away with skipping most of it, as only a fraction will actually be required on the assignments. Pay attention in recitation, lest you do poorly on the essays - they'll want you to regurgitate buzzwords/phrases that you'll go over in discussion. That said, I managed a decent grade with definitively D-grade essay writing, so don't sweat it. Again, 100-level courses are a joke, and this is no exception.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Expecting a B+ wombat 12/08/2012	Dr. Eckstein is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject. Likes to relate to current / recent events, rehashes lecture material a lot in case you missed a class, and is friendly and eager to answer questions. His cynical attitude towards Christianity was the only thing that turned me off, but who can blame him, what with all the Bible pushers out there these days. When I took the class, it consisted of two exams (midterm and final) and a paper. Both exams consist of two essay questions each. Apparently he grades them based how many of the key points mentioned in lecture you are able to include, so definitely attend the lectures. Discussions consisted primarily of participation, along with some short reading quizzes.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/22/2011	Well it is hard to describe him. If you don't find history interesting then his lectures will e miserable. If you do he is great. I happen to be a history major so I felt that his class was very interesting. He comes into class and teaches like he is telling a story, very enjoyable if you find it interesting like I did. Mid-term was a take home and the final was in class, neither were particularly hard.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/04/2010	He's a very knowledgeable man, and you can certainly learn a lot from his lecture. That is, assuming you can focus. He is very monotonous and uses no visual aids. In addition, while he explains a lot of great things in class, none of it is really ever relevant to exams. The exams rely on your ability to write endlessly about some random passage taken from a book that was required for the course. As long as you go to discussion, do all the readings, and study, you can end up with at least an ok grade. The lectures are not helpful at all
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Anonymous 09/30/2009	His lectures are really boring, and you need to rely on your TA pretty heavily to get the big picture. He likes to focus on little details in lecture that might not matter for the papers or exams. The readings are also pretty dry since they are largely political papers. Unless you like Ancient politics and don't mind monotone lectures, I really wouldn't recommend this class.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Anonymous 09/12/2009	For the most part my CORE classes have helped me develop as a thinker outside of my major (engineering). However this class simply made me want to knock down the key building. The lectures were awfully boring. His voice was at a constant for the whole semester. If that was not enough the lectures were pretty pointless when compared to the exams. The graded work was suppose to look into how we interpreted and dissected the material of the course. The grade you receive is actually how well you articulate his ideas into your own words so no free thinking in this class if you want a decent grade. He also comes off rude as far as not wanting to answer your questions. He pushed me off on the TA the handful of times I did try and ask a question. If you need a HO CORE...look somewhere else.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/10/2009	Horrible professor He teaches his course by using overly simplistic stereotypes. His teaching methods also isn't very effective, since what he teaches in class rarely shows up in the actual exams. He also likes to waste time by going off topic, and expects us to cover the time lost with our own time. For example, he started the semester off by pointing to a few black students in the class, and claiming how the campus belonged to them since the "original campus" that was burned down decades ago was built by slaves. The funny thing was that the black students he pointed to seemed like transfer students from the Caribbean or Africa. Case in point, the class is pretty pointless, since you don't learn anything besides history stereotypes. And you'll probably end up getting a not so decent grade as well.
Arthur Eckstein HIST110 stealingsheep 12/15/2008	Does not have any visual aid so you have to pay attention in his lecture. He is thoroughly knowledgeable of the subject and while sometimes he speaks a bit fast, he does repeat the main points once or twice. He does not like or answer questions he sees as irrelevant and can come off as a bit rude. He does really glow with happiness when he's covering a subject he likes, although sometimes his "uhh's" can be a bit annoying.