John Haiman - Macalester College, St. Paul, MN

Professor: John Haiman

Department: Linguistics

College: Macalester College, St. Paul, MN

Rating # 1

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

A good linguist, but a really bad professor & adviser. Pretty much checked out at this point; useless unless you're into the exact thing he is. However, if you impress him with one good comment you're pretty much set, but that can be super tough.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: LING10001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

John's not a good professor to work with if you're not in top shape. My medications at the time made me feel extremely sluggish, and he perhaps took that as disinterest in his subject because I was definitely not a favorite. Intro to linguistics was tough. If you come from a public school background with a mediocre grammar curriculum, study hard.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: LING400
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

John is a brilliant linguist but at times can be a difficult teacher. He knows what he's talking about but may have a hard time articulating it to anyone else. Try to avoid him for Intro (I hear it's rough) but for Field Methods and Linguistic Analysis he's well suited for the course structure (nonexistent), you will survive Syntax.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: 10001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Unless you plan to come into your Intro. class with a vast body of knowledge about Linguistics, AVOID AVOID AVOID! What a joke. Speculation about important advanced linguistic debates: in the forefront of his mind and lessons. Teaching an eager student who wants to learn: absolutely unimportant to him. THE singular reason I changed my major. :(

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: LING202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Origin and Evolution of Language wasn't as fun as Intro, and very speculative, but there were some interesting moments. Haiman knows his stuff; sometimes the classes feel like one long stream-of-consciousness riff, but there's always moments of hard contemplation. I don't really remember but I learned, but I know I did learn something.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He's a very polarizing teacher; a good linguist, but his lecture/teaching style is not for everyone (a lot of jumping around). His palpable love of literature and cartoons is great?if you like refs to New Yorker strips, Vonnegut, Douglas Adams and Russian literature, you'll appreciate him. Even if he favors you, he doesn't go easy. High standards.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Haiman is definitely not one of the easiest professors at Mac, but I still enjoyed and got a lot out of his class. He's much easier to understand if you ask questions during class -- he really wants people to get it -- and the homework assignments are challenging but interesting. Don't be afraid to take his class, but be prepared to WORK.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: LING204
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

John is among the most brilliant professors at Macalester. It's unfortunate that so many people rate him poorly, but these same people came to class without any foreknowledge and made no attempt to catch up. John's grades are hardly arbitrary, he just has high expectations. If you're smart and well prepared, you'll like John's classes.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Haiman is completely incomprehensible in explaining what it is he wants from his students. His blatant favoritism is suffocating to those not in his good graces, and the final's format came out of nowhere. (80 definitions, something that was never emphasized or stressed throughout the semester.)

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: LING103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

DO NOT take Advertising and Propaganda. I loved John's intro class and plan on majoring in linguistics, but A&P is a mess and has nothing to do with linguistics. It is really a class in John Haiman's Political Worldview. I agree with him politically (very liberal) but I still hate this class. He is completely unqualified to teach it.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: LING200
• 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:

A lot of people bash John because they find him incomprehensible due to volume, age, and subject matter. My advice: sit close, take good notes, and you'll find that you are in the presence of a brilliant linguist. The man cares about whether or not you get it, so ask good questions and you'll get good answers.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The grading in completely arbitrary and it is easy to drift off in class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ADPROP
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I had Advertising and Propaganda with him, which would have been extremely interesting, if he wasn't such a terrible teacher. I still don't know why we did many of the assignments, and he plays favorites for no apparent reason. Terrible class, terrible prof.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ADPROP
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is the most interesting man at Mac. I'll always remember the first day of class when he promised us that "by the end of the semester, you'll think the sun shines through Orwell." By far he's one of the better profs I've had.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Haiman gives the most random assignments. He knows what he's talking about, but you need to figure it out before he tells you. You will spend a lot of weekends writing papers.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ADPROP
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 17

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

I've taken some classes with John, and he's mostly just crazy. I like him and he definitely knows what's up with linguistics, but you kind of have to prove yourself to him. His classes have a tendency to be unstructured/his assignments are sometimes random and ridiculous. I wouldn't recommend taking intro with him, though, wait until you know more.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Somewhat boring. The assignments are quite interesting and there was no final or any test throughout the year so I can't complain. Only one ass. per week. I don't feel however as though I'll remember anything.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: LING100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The entire grade is based on a final and homework assignments he hands you the last minute of class w/o explaining. It's unclear what he wants you to take from the class, not that you'll remember any of it anyway. He knows linguistics, yet frequently forgets no one else does too. This prof will kill any interest you have in Linguistics.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: INTROLING
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

worst prof i've ever had. dreadfully dull. goes off on pointless rambling tangents. reading was not relevant. his grading made no sense. everyone in the class failed his tests. he gave tests when there was nothing to test us on. avoid this man at all costs!!!