Western Kentucky University / E / Timothy Evans

Professor Evans is awesome. He really loves what he teaches and you can tell. He is a nerdy and adorable old man. The class is pretty easy and all of the tests are open book and open notes. Professor Evans is really laid back. Before each exam you play Jeopardy for extra credit. He gives you study guides and everything. The only thing you really need to worry about is the folklore project towards the end. Make sure you put though and effort into it and don't wait until the last minute to do it.

Ok, so I thought this would be a fun course to take.... and it may be, but not with this professor. I was in this class for three weeks before I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. You deal with a lot of controversial issues in this course and I was prepared with that. However, I was not prepared for being attacked by the professor if you disagred with him. And even if you agreed with him, he still made you feel pretty stupid for not being open-minded enough to agree with the other opinion. I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of the course, but I did learn that I was wrong no matter what I thought. Also, I was in a class with a lot of people that were narrow-minded and if you didn't agree with them, they would cut you off to tell you how wrong you were. AfterI dropped this class, everytime I saw someone I was in it with would comment on how lucky I am that I was able to drop it. A lot of people wanted to, but couldn't because they hadn't scheduled enough hours. All-in-all, if you take this class, it's best to not voice your opinion as much as possible.

Dr. Evans is a little dry when teaching, but this class is really interesting and he enjoys the topic so it makes the class a lot better. There is a lot of reading stories and discussion, and we watched quite a few movies in class. Don't take this class if you are expecting something about scary movies and horror films, because that is not what this class is about. We studied a lot of different topics and people who expected a class about scary movies were dissapointed. But I was not expecting that and really loved this class. There are papers, but they are opinion based so they are pretty easy.

I learned a lot in this class, but there wasn't a day that I didn't dread going to it. It was a LONG 50 minutes. The key to doing well in this class is to stay caught up in your reading, take good notes on all he talks about--the more detailed your notes, the better--and on the tests, WRITE FAST. His exams consisted of three "short essay" questions (your choice out of five) and one long essay question. But don't kid yourself. If you don't write the details he thinks are important and should be included, he will take points off, e.g., "you could have included...." The exams frustrated me because the amount of writing required was far too much for the amount of time given in which to take it. The exams are open note, so obviously, if your notes are comprehensive, it's not too bad coming up with the essays. It's the lack of time that kills you. In addition to three exams, we had to read a BUNCH [too much] and write two 4-8 page papers--one on your own culture and one on someone else's culture. On a positive note, he seems to grade easy on the exams-- it's just the people who are obsessive about their grades--like me--that tend to get aggravated.

As someone else already mentioned, he likes when you ask/answer questions, but if you say something make sure you have something to back it up. He always asks you why you think whatever you've said. He tends to stare you down and make you feel foolish.

Also, make sure to give credit to the author whenever you cite or paraphrase something from one of the readings. He takes points off for that, and that's something that can easily be avoided.

This class is very easy. You don't have to buy the books because he discusses the readings in class. All of the tests are open note!!

Dr. Evans is very intelligent and requires good reading. However, he encourages you to ask questions then makes you feel stupid for doing so. The tests are essay but are over the reading and the notes. They are graded fairly. A few papers are required but are good learning experiences and not difficult.