Education In the USA

He was amazing; he really made us think about the quality of the education we were receiving and how much education differed across states. He's very eccentric, you can just skim the readings and he will start the class off with meditation. He doesn't really do attendance and there's always zoom if you can't make it in person. This was a really easy A.

Education in the U.S.A. with JML is an experience like no other at Middlebury. He begins each class with stretching exercises, meditation, and "mighty shouts" so that students can find their voice before diving into the material. The focus on the course material is on JML's recent interests in postcolonialism -- particularly unlearning the "colonial paradigm" -- which is a surprise in what would appear to be a history of education class. However, it does make you think about the world very differently, and JML is a giant teddy bear so this class is a blast. 10/10 recommend -- I think every Middlebury student should have a class with JML before they graduate.

Education in the U.S.A. with JML is an experience like no other at Middlebury. He begins each class with stretching exercises, meditation, and "mighty shouts" so that students can find their voice before diving into the material. The focus on the course material is on JML's recent interests in postcolonialism -- particularly unlearni …Read more

This class was recommended high by multiple upperclassmen I talked to. JML is an incredible professor and his enthusiasm for this class is contagious. The readings can be dense but if you spend time with them and allow yourself to become engaged with them they will be incredibly interesting and you'll have a good time. there is a decent amount of group work which is fun because the class is fairly big and you get to meet new people. There are quizzies every week which are basically mini essays that you'll have time to prepare for. it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of what work you have to do for the class but staying caught up isn't too difficult. Overall an incredible class that will allow you to learn about something you likely haven't thought of very in-depth.

This class was recommended high by multiple upperclassmen I talked to. JML is an incredible professor and his enthusiasm for this class is contagious. The readings can be dense but if you spend time with them and allow yourself to become engaged with them they will be incredibly interesting and you'll have a good time. there is a dec …Read more

Tara is amazing and totally one of those profs that everyone should take a course with before they graduate. However, I feel like this course was a little overhyped and I didn't feel like it was "life-changing" like everyone said it was. I think students who went to private school or white suburban public schools would get a lot out of this but for those who experienced or witnessed marginalization/racism in their educational institutions or who have read critical race theory before, this course is pretty elementary. That being said, most students at Midd would get a lot out of this course.

Tara is amazing and totally one of those profs that everyone should take a course with before they graduate. However, I feel like this course was a little overhyped and I didn't feel like it was "life-changing" like everyone said it was. I think students who went to private school or white suburban public schools would get a lot out …Read more

This course is a Midd staple! It was a super low stakes course but the material was incredibly interesting to learn about. If you can't get all the reading done for a class you'll be fine, but definitely try to at least skim! We had 3 little response papers and one actual essay... all of them were chill and honestly the essay was fun to write.

I liked this class because it was easy without having to do anything. There's a lot of assigned reading but to be completely honest you could totally get by without doing most of it. Hoffman is very enthusiastic but can be very scattered with his requirements for his papers. Meaning, he won't always say what he wants in the paper unless you ask him. He doesn't give a rubric for his essay assignments so you have to constantly ask him what he wants in the paper. But he's a fair grader and if you argue for your point on your assignment he'll more than likely give you points back

I liked this class because it was easy without having to do anything. There's a lot of assigned reading but to be completely honest you could totally get by without doing most of it. Hoffman is very enthusiastic but can be very scattered with his requirements for his papers. Meaning, he won't always say what he wants in the paper unl …Read more

Professor Hammerle is one of my favorite professors at Middlebury. I took Ed in the US my first semester at Midd and learned so many interesting things about the education system. She really cares about her students and gives thoughtful feedback on your work.

I took Education in the USA as a freshman in the Fall. It was a great class to get introduced to college-level learning. Hoffman was extremely flexible with due dates. We mainly had projects and a few take home exams. I would take a class with him again if I had the chance.

JML was one of the best professors I've had here at Midd. He knows how to make the class fun and interesting and I looked forward to learning the material every week. He allows you to be creative and expressive in your writing. The workload was manageable.

This course came highly recommended when I arrived at Middlebury. JML's teaching style is inclusive & quirky and this is a perfect course if you want to broadly discuss inequities within the US education system. I really enjoyed the selected readings and overall the course material was not challenging. However, the presentations began to get a bit repetitive though are often engaging.

This course came highly recommended when I arrived at Middlebury. JML's teaching style is inclusive & quirky and this is a perfect course if you want to broadly discuss inequities within the US education system. I really enjoyed the selected readings and overall the course material was not challenging. However, the presentations bega …Read more

Stephen Hoffman is an interesting character. I greatly loved the course material and the readings were deeply engaging to me, I wish I was in a place to further engage with the material. Hoffman's lectures were interesting, but I was not as engaged with his lectures as I was with the reading. This class definitely confirmed my passion for Education Studies, but Hoffman made some off-handed comments that I was not a fan of during several lectures.

Stephen Hoffman is an interesting character. I greatly loved the course material and the readings were deeply engaging to me, I wish I was in a place to further engage with the material. Hoffman's lectures were interesting, but I was not as engaged with his lectures as I was with the reading. This class definitely confirmed my passio …Read more

JML is one of the best teachers I've ever had. He's enthusiastic, caring, and makes the course very engaging. This class is very lecture/presentation heavy, but it's still very interesting. The readings are somewhat long, but you are encouraged to skim them.

Prof JML is an amazing professor and is very passionate about education in the US. The books we read throughout the course are very interesting and allow for deeper thinking. If you are interested in learning more about the history of education I would definitely take this class with JML. We also stretch, breath, and meditate before class!

JML is unlike any teacher /professor I've had. He is very enthusiastic about what he is teaching. You can always go to his office hours for him to help on the essays. He is very accommodating and flexible. Although the class content is far from what I thought it would be, I definitely recommend this course.

I was really excited for this course but it wasn't for me. I love education and I loved our readings, but I felt like I learned very little from the lecture and had a very hard time with the non academic writing style of the course. this course really should be a seminar not a lecture and I never felt like I really got to ask questions or share out in class. Our main course readings were great. The professor clearly cares about the course content, but it just wasn't a good fit for my learning style and the content differed a lot from my expectations.

I was really excited for this course but it wasn't for me. I love education and I loved our readings, but I felt like I learned very little from the lecture and had a very hard time with the non academic writing style of the course. this course really should be a seminar not a lecture and I never felt like I really got to ask questio …Read more

Professor JML is a very accommodating man. If you are having a hard time he will understand. Most of the course content included readings and weekly quizzes which were graded on your understanding of those readings. He can kind of tell when you don't do the readings. I think we had one big presentation to do and 2 essays but that was pretty much it.

I found this course to be engaging and easy to follow. The course didn't have a fair amount of reading however most of it was relatively engaging. There were a lot of semi tests that were basically just short essays but these were usually low stakes and pretty easy.

Miller-Lane is definitely a unique teacher. He's very into mind-body exercises. The readers are long but you don't need to do all of them. If you just skim them or spark notes them your fine. Take notes on what he says in class for the writings because he will give you the answers.

The course material was interesting but I did not appreciate how it was taught and felt that I only learned from the readings and not from the class itself. It was a poorly taught class but had a lot of potential. I was under the impression that the course would be taught by Affolter which I was excited about but there were last minute changes.

I loved this class. The readings were incredibly fascinating and Prof. Hammerle is very accommodating. I think that the content which I learned will guide the rest of my education experience. As well, I liked the discussions.

Best class and prof at Midd. He's just very good at teaching, and clearly super passionate to the point that you also become interested in the subject even if you had no interest in education studies when coming into college.

I enjoyed taking this class because I found the lectures interesting. I did not enjoy all of the readings and did not end up doing many of them. There were usually quizzes each week that you could do mostly by paying attention in class. I have been told, however, that the class is now harder than it was when I took it.

JML is very passionate about the material and the discussions are always interesting. There is a lot of reading, but it is manageable and if you pay attention you can just skim it. The weekly quizzes are not too hard. Definitely recommend this class

JML covered some very interesting topics in class, and allowed a lot of open discussion. He was very open about difficult topics involving race, inequality, marginalized communities, etc. through education.

JML was a great professor, but the class wasn't a good fit for me. However, if you're interested in humanities, this is the class for you. It's a lot of reading, but grading was really easy. As long as you try, it's pretty easy to get an A.

This course was a chill class and gave me a good understanding of the education system in the US (as the title suggests). The readings combined with the lectures were helpful and there wasn’t a lot of work involved outside of reasonable readings.