Peter Harder - Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Professor: Peter Harder

Department: Economics

College: Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I took 206 with Proff. Harder. He is a wonderful person who has no idea how to teach this class. He never uses slides, does not have a canvas site, is very rarely accessible and only grades off of 3 badly written exams. He drones on using anecdotes of his life irrelevant to the days assigned topic. Its better just to not come to class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Harder was really mean and made fun of students who were trying their hardest. :( He was also very opinionated about politics. Only take if you enjoy arguing and dont want to learn economics.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: No
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Harder really knows Economic Theory... It seems like this man expects you to know it as well as he does at a 300 level course. Lectures are long, dry, and expects you to memorize the titles and authors of 30 books for the first exam then be able to name 10 at random. He makes everything much... Harder than it needs to be. DO NOT TAKE.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON207
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst class I ever took.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Hard to understand his lectures, and the content is useless. Really bad at answering questions and doesnt use email.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

One of the most inspirational professors I've had. He is a retired professor that came back "for the love of teaching." Very old fashioned; his syllabus looks like it came out of a type writer. He expects you to take your own notes. Tip: Outline your notes after each class period and study in groups. And, he gives out a ton of extra credit.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Peter Harder is a bad professor. He belittles students, plays favorites, wanders into areas outside his speciality (especially politics, philosophy, and history) and says empirically wrong facts. Hes also incomprehensible, telling long, pointless stories which he then grades you on. The class had a ludicrous number of flunks from good students.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I urge anyone reading this to avoid at all costs. Prof. Harder lectures extremely poorly, uses an incoherent textbook, and treats students with contempt. Class is an absolute chore and tests are worded poorly as to confuse students. This class is absolutely horrible, and I'm minoring in economics and like the subject. DO NOT TAKE.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He talks at you the whole time. No slides, no canvas just talking at you. Requires 3 specific books to use. There are 3 tests with a variety of questions and one 15 page long paper. There is a few extra credit opportunity though. Does not to email or phone calls, he is "Old school" and prefers face to face. Dont take unless you do fast notes.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Although the class may not seem very helpful in the long run, Harder does a good job of keeping it interesting. There is a LOT of information to cram into your head between tests, but try not to loose sight of the big picture. It is really important to pay attention in class and take good notes! Overall, a pretty good class.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Harder like to ramble a little when lecturing. He goes over some of the graphs in the textbook in class so get ready to read. Form study groups before exams and use tutoring center. Econ 206 was a class for my major. This class is pretty good.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: D+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

he gets distracted while lecturing and your grade is based one the 3 exams you take. homework is optional. create a study group if you want to pass.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He taught me things that I still remember today, 25 years later. He also tried to warn me away from reading David Ricardo in his writing intensive class, but I didn't listen. Ouch. Still, a couple of years later, he mentioned my determination in a letter of recommendation to graduate school. Thank you, Dr. Harder.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Amazing teacher! There are no powerpoints so class consists of him talking and occassionally drawing graphs on the board. He is really good at putting stories, that may seem off topic at first, along with the material giving you real life scenarios. Read and take notes before class and you'll be ahead of the game. Practice the graphs!!!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

If you rely heavy on PPTs or a non-Econ major- stray away. Peter lectures using only the board, so you need to listen carefully and write down everything he writes on the whiteboard, and it can get hard to keep up. He's a funny dude, but lectures can get confusing and he enjoys tangents. The tests were TOUGH and he grades hard on the graphs.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Best professor I had at Western. Because of him, I changed my major to Economics. I would never have thought I would love Economics so much. He used to be the department head at Western, and he's a wealth of knowledge. He gives so much extra credit- so if you get a 65 that's a C. Just read the textbook and you'll be fine.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He doesn't lecture very well, he goes off on tangents about stuff that won't matter for the test. If you learn well by reading the book, take his class. I learn best in lectures so this class has been a big challenge for me. He is kind of dry as well, not always easy to pay attention.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON303
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Ten page paper on randomly assigned topics taken from The Wealth of Nations, manageable but don't wait till the last minute. Lectures are long, mostly dry, but he can be humorous at times. Take notes, lots of them, both from the lectures and the book. Then take notes of your notes. His tests consists on questions from both. Medium difficulty class.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Definitely need to read the text, as he expects you already did before coming to class. (He will ask questions about it) 3 exams, no cumulative final. Lectures "free-style" which means he has no PPT to support it and occasionally writes/draws stuff on the board, so make sure you listen. Attending lectures can be helpful, even tho he likes to ramble

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON206
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

His incredible knowledge of facts and statistics, as well as life experience and insight are simply amazing. If you are here to learn Econ, I can't think of a better professor. His tests (3 of them, 100% of your grade) aren't hard if you just learn your stuff, I easily got through the class without reading the textbook and minimal studying.