Western Kentucky University / M / Frederick I. Murphy

By Far THE Worst professor ever!! Do not take this guy! The class may be boring and his mono tone gets you to fall asleep! Still, he is not easy to work with! Will not meet with you to discuss your grade, will not email you back, will not tell you your grade, and not helpful at all! I believe it is a professor's job to help the student, not just say get some help outside of class. IT is the professor job to tell you your grade and discuss your test with you. I think the department head should look into his teaching methods!

This class is not fun! Too many notes! You can only miss up to three classes and still have to write a report on what you missed to get credit!

This class was cake. He grades super-easy and gives you a lot of choices for the essay tests. There are only 2 reports and 3 tests and that is your grade. Though the material can be really boring the class is VERY EASY... I didn't study once but i easily got an A in the course. I wouldn't spend money on the book- we never used it in class.

I had a D in this class from all the tests that I had taking, but at the end, he gave us this paper to do over 5 chapters we hadn't read and write about it and it was worth 50% of our grade. Everyone did good so everyones grade went up... A LOT!!! Take this class, it is easy.

Murphy is a retired professor who gives only essay tests. His class is VERY boring and everyone fell asleep... I would recommend for tests, just studying out of the book and off of the study guide he gives you and doing it... you will at least make a C+ on all of your essays, if you try somewhat. He gives you 20 questions and you have to choose 4 to do essays on... you must know something about them, so studying is vital, but paying attention in his class is NOT. He's easy, but you have to come to class or he takes off points... and if you are there everyday, you will get 5 bonus points added on to your final grade at the end of the semester.

I had him for a bi-term, he is pretty easy. His tests are essay but he gives you seriously like 20 questions to choose from and you have to do like 4 or 5. Out of all those choices you should at least know something about a few of them. He was really strict with attendance, you cannot miss at all unless you have a Western excuse and if not you had to write a paper of what was covered the day you missed! He was an easy grader though, you can mostly bullcrap your way through and get a C+ or even a B without knowing a lot.

Dr. Murphy knows this stuff like he grew up while it was taking place. And to look at him one would think he did. His lectures tend to be rather boring, but its reall ynot that bad. Attendance is mandatory, BUT with a GOOD excuse true OR not hes VERY leniant (which im thankful for). His test aren't really that bad... He gives you like 20 Questions to choose from and you have to answer like 4 of them. If you are taking this class just to keep you on "Full-time" status, you'll think it sucks, but if you TRY it will be worth your while

If you come into the class looking to get an easy grade, then it is possible to do so by simply reading the textbook. However, this class is best if you listen to the lectures carefully.

Dr. Murphy as he likes to be called is the oldest professor at WKU or at least he appears to be. Bless his heart, he knows all about what he is talking about, mostly because he was around for all of the events his course covers. Be ready to take a dictophone or stenographer to class with you because there is no way that you can write down every word he says as you will find you must do to pass his atrocious blue book, essay exams. I myself take dictation and can take down over 100 words a minute in shorthand, and this is probably the only reason I managed to pull a B in his class. He rudly grades your exams by leaving nice little messages that make you feel about -1" tall, oh yeah and he grades for grammer and spelling too so be ready to use everything you have learned in all of your english classes. A principal from the school district I attended public school in told me that she had Dr. Murphy when she was at WKU and subsequently failed his class. Be ready to B.S. your way through his exams and be bored to death by his monotone lectures if you must take this teacher. If at all possible, take another teacher and avoid Dr. Murphy as you would avoid an evil spirit.

Murphy's a smart guy. Unfortunately, he is also monotone, obnoxious, unreasoning, and demeaning. His exams often cover material that he does not refer to in his lectures and though he gives essay exams that provide a variety of options, sometimes he will grade these things subjectively to the point that a slight matter of opinion could mar your final grade. Prepare to kiss some serious keister if you want to make a decent grade.

He reminds me of the Charlie Brown teacher, very monotoned and extremely boring. I had to work really hard to get a C. He is slightly confused, he thinks that he teaches at Harvard and not WKU. If you want to get an A, I would advise you take Crowe, she is the best in the whole history department.

Old Man Fred talks in monotone loud enough to bust an ear drum. He likes to skip around a lot which makes the material difficult to grasp. My best advice is, if you plan on taking him, you're wasting your time listening to his lecture. If you can block out his voice, just read the material yourself and jot down what you think is important. All test are essay, however, he is pretty leanient when it comes to grading and he gives you MANY questions to choose from. His test have approx. 10 questions to choose from and you only have to write about 3 of them. I took it as a bi-term, but if you plan on taking it a whole semester it's probably a lot easier. Anyways, hope I was of any help. Good luck.

Good guy, to hard of a class. Take someone else

You have to listen very hard because what he says is bound to be on the test. He gives you tests that contain 20 essays with 4 to choose from. He likes things short, sweet, and to the point. Reading the book to follow along also helps quite a bit when it comes to the test. You will write one paper during the semester, which counts as 20% of your grade. If you are a good essay, test taker, i'd urge you to take the class. You will have three tests in the semester. Your lowest test score is only 10% of your grade, so you have room to make a bad grade. Your second highest is 30% and your highest is 40%. the extra credit comes from attendance. If you are there everyday, you will receive 5 points to you highest test score so it usually works out pretty well on your end. This is a very intelligent man who knows his stuff.

Horrible!! The man assigns a report during finals week. Tests are often graded unfairly. I had to work my tail off for a B.

I would not recommend taking this professor if you are not a freshman. I was a junior when I took this class, and everyone else was a freshman. They were very immature and Dr. Murphy didn't do anything to control the class. The were constantly talking while he was lecturing, and it made it very difficult to comprehend the lecture.

I found his class to be hard and the notes he gave during class were straight from the book. If you missed his class he took points off if you didn't have an excuse.

This was a tough course with an oral exam with over 600 pages worth of materials on which you could be called to give an answer. Classes were boring as a re-run of Home Improvement. However, the class really binded together and made life-long friends. Dr. Murphy himself is an unusually loud man with no repsect for other classes going on in the building.

Great professor, lectures were very good. Is a very nice guy and is concerned with his students. He did grade a little to easy on his esaay tests.