Edward Drachman - SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY

Professor: Edward Drachman

Department: Political Science

College: SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Excellent professor. Has a whole range of experiences so he is not just teaching out of a book because he lived through most of it. Incredibly interesting and offers different perspectives to consider on an issue. Tests are relatively easy. The only real work is the case study analysis which is not bad. There is a research paper. Do it well.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I always come out of Drachman's courses knowing considerably more than I did going in. I took him for 2 200-level courses and I'm choosing to take him a third time for my capstone. You need to know any term he writes on the board. Use wikipedia to look up anything he didn't cover well. Very nice man. Attendance is mandatory. Likely to retire soon.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PLSC140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

It's sad that Professor Drachman no longer possesses the teaching skills to effectively cover the material in the course. He is an incredibly interesting, intelligent man, but far too often gets far off track. His lectures become incredibly scattered. I sadly gained little from the class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's a sweet man with a really fascinating history, but he strays frequently from the topic to the extent that the student is forced to do an unreasonable amount of outside work in order to learn the topics. All he does is write terms on the board, generally only gets to two or three, and the other ten or so end up the student's responsibility.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Brilliant professor and a very refreshing perspective. He was definitely an excellent professor at one time, which is too bad because class with him these days is a nightmare. Lectures are notoriously disorganized, and it's almost impossible to know what he wants from us. His grading policy is arbitrary at best. His attendance policy also sucks.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PLSC326
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is really no longer a good professor. He cannot keep a train of thought and jumps around way too much. His class is not easy because he cannot commit to a topic and explain it fully. Some days he writes terms down and if he does you better copy it down and then memorize it later. All in all I would recommend Koch, Deutsch in poli sci.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PLSC328
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Drachman is one of the most brilliant professors at Geneseo. He has lived through most of what he teaches so he is kind of an expert. He is a bit scatterbrained and always goes on massive tangets (his famous "just briefly" line). You do not need to do the readings except for the ones he assigns for the take home part of the midterm.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Drachman is extremely knowledgable about his subject area. The class is literally on Cold War Presidents and their decisions. He goes on massive tangents during class and expects you to know all the terms he puts on the board. Classes are mandatory because he gives short quizzes. He grades rather fairly.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: POS0513
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I found him to be not only highly knowledgeable on the material but he put in a lot of his own personal experiences with what he was teaching. Yes he had a tendency to go off on tangents but because of him I have realized my passion for International Relations. He offered many great books to read on your own and I truly think he was the best.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nice man, goes on tangents a lot so we don't cover every topics. I don't consider him an easy professor anymore. Although he graded the take home part of exams and the paper about easily or fairly, he really graded the in class midterms hard compared to the ones I had in his PLSC 140 class. He also encourages participation from his students.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: GISSU346
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I heard about the tangets before the class, but oh my goodness. In global issues Plsc346 talked about poppy production in Afghanistan for a week which was totally unplanned. Dr. Drachman is such a nice person, but I didn't get much out if his class. There was just no structure, and everything was discussion. Kind of an arbitrary grader too.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PLSC140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

it is necessary to go to class! there are pop quizzes and a few essays. he is very knowledgeable but goes off on way too many tangents.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PLSC325
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great professor. Let's you know exactly what will be on the test. One midterm, one presentation, and one big essay on anything that's related to the course. He is THE master of tangents though.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PLSC140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

knows what he's talking about and very helpful. Lectures are decent, more fun if you participate. current events commentaries are easy grades, and for tests, study the terms and be very specific on the short answer and essay parts, pop quizzes are about 4 questions with bonuses and are on lecture stuff...very easy

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PLSC246
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great professor! He gives you a sheet of everything you will need to know before the test. The tests are fair. You will have to read a few chapters of his book. Overall the reading isn't too necessary, just go to class and hear him talk. He does go on a lot of tangents. He likes to talk about current politics at the beginning of some classes.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PLSC140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Seems to be a very smart guy, very nice, and encourages class participation. However he goes off tangent too much and digress often so he doesn't give us enough notes to study and don't learn a lot about new topics. His tests are easy if you study the review sheet, research online the words, and define each of the terms by at least 3 sentences

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PLSC
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I took lots of classes with Drachman and find him to be an incredibly smart and interesting prof, even if he does go on tangents and say "who's speaking please?" so often its hilarious. admittedly, you can't rely on him to go over every detail in class, but this teaches you how to study and research. amzing, endearing, and kind professor!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PLSC140INTRELA
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hate giving bad grades, because he's such a sweet person. Ridiculously smart. Obviously cares a lot about his work, students,and just humanity in general.Yes, his stuttering IS endearing,but you HAVE to admit it gets REALLY annoying after the first few weeks.TANGENTS RESULT IN MISSED INFORMATION: NEED TO LEARN THINGS ON OWN TO DO WELL ON TESTS!!!!!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PLSC140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Amazing professor. His tangents are what make the class interesting. Also, He encourages classroom discussion.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI105
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's the reason I want to switch to an international relations major.