Education In the USA

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.