middCourses
with William Waldron7 months ago

Bill Waldron is a wonderful person and a solid teacher. It’s a lecture-based class with tons of neat history/philosophy, and several of Waldron’s Buddhist analogies I think about in my everyday life. Go to his office hours, too! He’s very enjoyable to talk to and has had some interesting life experience. I usually found classes to be somewhat meditative.

Chill and RelaxedFair GradingNo Exams
1hrs / week Low difficulty High value Would not take again
with William Waldron7 months ago

Intro to Buddhism is a great class if needed for a distribution requirement. Although many long and confusing readings are assigned each week, they are not necessary to read to do well in the class. The lectures are pretty boring and confusing if you aren't well informed or interested in Buddhism to begin with. The class assignments are only 3 papers, in addition to a percent of your grade dedicated to participation. I found it often hard to participate because of the confusing material.

Intro to Buddhism is a great class if needed for a distribution requirement. Although many long and confusing readings are assigned each week, they are not necessary to read to do well in the class. The lectures are pretty boring and confusing if you aren't well informed or interested in Buddhism to begin with. The class assignments …Read more

Chill and RelaxedFair GradingNo Exams
2hrs / week Low difficulty Very low value Would not take again
with William Waldron7 months ago

William Waldron is a very nice guy. He lectures all classes and discussion are quite straight forward. Content was interesting and he presents it in a tolerable format. Readings are dense but explained well. paper based grading and participation. Recommend this as a chill course

Chill and RelaxedConstant ReadingNo Exams
3hrs / week Low difficulty Above average value Would take again
with William Waldron7 months ago

I took this class to fill the distribution requirement, and for an easy class. There are 3 essays throughout the year and readings for each class. The readings are not necessary at all for the essays. I didn't do a single reading all semester and did well on the essays by just looking back at the PowerPoint/videos on canvas. Besides the class being extremely low work and effort, it is extremely boring and very hard to sit through the class. If you are looking for an easy religion class then you should take this one, but be prepared to be bored.

I took this class to fill the distribution requirement, and for an easy class. There are 3 essays throughout the year and readings for each class. The readings are not necessary at all for the essays. I didn't do a single reading all semester and did well on the essays by just looking back at the PowerPoint/videos on canvas. Besides …Read more

Slow-PacedEasy GradingNo Exams
0hrs / week Extremely low difficulty Extremely low value Would take again
with William Waldronlast month

Waldron is really nice and knowledgable and I didn't have trouble with the concepts he taught. My only issue was the way he would not take into account South Asian students in the room if there were any uncomfortable comments made. For example, I am Hindu and they compare the two religions a lot in this course, and many times I would hear from other students comments like "oh well Hinduism was super oppressive that's why people moved on to Buddhism", and he wouldn't really counter those arguments which was not always fun.

Waldron is really nice and knowledgable and I didn't have trouble with the concepts he taught. My only issue was the way he would not take into account South Asian students in the room if there were any uncomfortable comments made. For example, I am Hindu and they compare the two religions a lot in this course, and many times I would …Read more

Chill and RelaxedConstant ReadingFair Grading
1hrs / week Average difficulty Average value Would not take again