Ron Kahn - Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Professor: Ron Kahn

Department: Political Science

College: Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

It's a really good course if you are really interested in the topic. The assignments are very open-ended, and you can largely write the paper you are interested in. However, if you are not genuinely interested in the law, do not take it. It's a lot of reading and writing, and none of it is easy.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: POLT202301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

AWESOME professor. People who give this guy a negative rating clearly have no understanding of constitutional law and were unwilling to put in the effort in his intro classes. He is disorganized, but he lets you use that to take things in whatever direction you wish to go. Best prof at Oberlin. Loved his First Amendment seminar! Truly inspiring.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• 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:

I absolutely adore professor kahn. I've taken a few classes with him and he's the best. He uses the socratic method, so he's all about participation, which I love. Take con law!!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• 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:

I love Prof. Kahn! I've taken 3 classes with him & he advised my honors project, and I can't say enough great things about him. Although he can be a bit scatterbrained, he is a brilliant legal thinker and a very good advisor. If you find his class confusing, def. stop by office hours...he is helpful and even more hilarious in person than in class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: FYSP119
• 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:

I really liked Professor Kahn. He is very friendly and willing to help. He can be confusing though. He rambles a lot, but he brings up very interesting points of view. I would take another class with him.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: POLT103
• 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:

Tough teacher, and sometimes the material can be dry, but he's incredibly smart and always willing to talk to you about your work.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He could've explained things more -- he taught by dropping us straight into the Court and letting us pick it up along the way. There is a lot of *assigned* reading, but itt isn't hard once you realize you can skim the reading, note what's there, and come back to it for the paper.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: POLT270
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I love professor Kahn. Assigns an average amount of work. Is hysterical. Warning, though -- his train of thought can be, uh, derailed sometimes, so if you're just trying to get SS credits, I'd take a class with another professor. He's my favorite politics prof, though. You'll LOVE what he teaches if you're into the subject.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: POLT270
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

TERRIBLE professor. I can't figure out why everyone loves this guy. He is absolutely incomprehensible, syllabus and assignments are full of typos and mistakes, assigned way, way too much reading. The class was a lot of repetitive ****. Avoid him if you want to maintain any interest in politics or government. But funny if you love Woody Allen.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: POLT103
• 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:

at first i thought he was adorable-he's a passionate, rambling grandfatherly guy. but the joy of that quickly drains when you can't understand what on earth he's talking about because he constantly cuts himself off to say it a different way and uses 'widgets' in examples so many times you don't know what the topic is anymore.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: POLT103
• 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:

This 100-level class was a lot harder than I thought it would be...his readings are intense, and I wish someone would have told me early-on that it's OK to just skim. Class attendance wasn't mandatory, but I'd suggest it! Kahn is a funny, intelligent, and kind man who cares about teaching. Although his class is difficult, he is very approachable

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: POLT103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Ronald is great! Though the the details of the political picture he paints might be vauge his main points are clear. He will teach you a lot if you are willing to put in the work! Do the reading, and pay attention to the evolving process happening in one author to the next...there is a reason he picked these texts and put them in this order.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: FYSP119
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

A big teddy bear. Tons of reading, you have to do about 1/3 of it for any class to show you've done something. The class is only as valuable as you make it, and the papers seem totally incomprehensible till you think about them for a while. Class discussion made me want to be a politics major. I think that's pretty high praise.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: FYSP119
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His First Amendment and the Internet class is a great seminar (albeit lots of reading) and he provides loads of excellent Facebook quotes!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: 103303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lots and lots of reading, but the good news is that you don't actually have to do it all, and what you do read is likely interesting or at least helpful. After the reading load and the complexity of his lectures, his grades are still fair at the end of the day. Some of his term usages are fairly idiosyncratic, but he'll explain if prompted.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: 270
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This guy really knows what he's talking about. His lectures would be better if he stuck to his outlines, but he frequently delivers impassioned diatribes that tend to go off topic. Lots of reading, but if you can manage to keep up with it you'll get a lot out of the class and his lectures.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: POLT6363
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I took some sort of Con Law class with him and it was god-awful. He went off on unneccessary tangents all the time, and the excerpts from his own work that we had to read were unoriginal and overly didactic. Boring and unclear.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Insane but lots of fun. I always learn a lot from his classes and he is very willing to spend time with students if they need help. A definate favorite.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Con Law was a really good class. A lot of reading, but mostly interesting stuff. Prof. Kahn is all over the place-- very smart, but is so excited about the subject that his lectures are often difficult to take notes on because he jumps topics frequently.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: POLT202
• 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:

i love him so funny so excellent con law is highly recommended