Neil Lerner - Davidson College

Professor: Neil Lerner

Department: TBD

College: Davidson College

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: FMS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I can't speak on his performance as a humanities professor, but Dr. Lerner is great for film. His lectures can get boring sometimes, but he's funny and we cover some interesting stuff. The tests and assignments have clear criteria, and they are graded fairly.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HUM102
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He was awful. His lectures are boring and always irrelevant. You get the feeling that he became a professor just so that he could force a group of people listen to how "smart" he is. His essay prompts are over a page long and consistently ridiculous. Do not ever take a class with Neil Lerner.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HUM103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lerner was a great discussion leader for HUMs- he does sometimes have trouble staying on task, but all of the tangents were ultimately relevant to the overarching themes of the course. He's very easy to talk to during office hours (go to office hours if you want to do well on the papers) and loves engaging in discussions outside of class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HUM150
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Completely out of his depth as a Humanities professor. His comments on papers had no relationship to the grade he gave. He was incapable of running a discussion section without spending half of it on personal tangents to the point that our discussion quality was substantially higher without him. Passive aggressive to boot.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: FMS220
• 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:

Do not take any one of his classes expecting to just fulfill an arts requirement. He expects a lot out of every paper and project and you have weekly 2 hour film viewings. He is a good lecturer in class, but not that relateable to students. I did learn a lot about film studies, but the readings were often repetitive and excessive.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: FMS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Learned a lot about techniques used in different films. Not a very applied class, mostly watched movies and discussed film techniques. Tons of reading, 2 hr screening every Wednesday with a 5-question quiz on the movie the next day. Would recommend if you're looking for something outside the box.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HIS122
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Lerner tries to be helpful, but make no mistake, the listening sections on the tests are HARD. If you are looking to fulfill your fine arts requirement, look elsewhere!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MUS122
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Lerner is the man! The class is all lecture, but still interesting and easy to follow. Occasionally, he will try and cram to much into a single lecture if he's behind making it hard to follow. Very helpful during office hours. Tests are largely memorization but not too bad (except for the final). One paper which is a really fun assignment!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MUS122
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Excessively detail focused tests. Takes away from understanding broader concepts, because for every test you will spend hours upon hours trying to memorize the titles, authors, and exact date of 60 songs. He will then play 15 seconds of any part of only 8 of the songs. Aka, even if you know your stuff, you can still get screwed. I hated him.

Rating # 10

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

really fun and interesting lecturer

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MUS122
• 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:

Great prof--entertaining, knows his stuff. One of Davidson's best.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MUS112
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

pay attention and you'll notice that everything, according to him, has sexual undertones. EVERYTHING.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HUM251
• 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:

Pretty interesting. What seem to be obvious points are sometimes pretty subtle things, and he expects us to start to think similarly for ourselves. Kept the discussion informal but still drove home some points.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MUS122
• 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:

Very passionate about what he's teaching, and very clear. A little awkward at times, especially talking about all of the sexual/racial implications of music, but overall a very good teacher.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MUS122
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Entertaining. Expected us to think for ourselves at times--which to some is a real challenge.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MUS228
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

good lecturer

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HUM251
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

kooky, occassionally off-topic, but interesting discussions

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HUM251
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

While a good lecturer, not that great in discussion. He tends to emphasize what he thinks and not pay much attention to other thoughts. In one class he kept trying to drive home a point that nobody else in the class saw. An easy grader though, so not totally bad.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HUM160
• 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:

Taking this class was a terrible experience. He was boring and defensive. Instructions were rarely clear, but lectures, while bland, were fine. Tell him exactly what he wants to hear and you'll be fine.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MUS380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Smart, funny, mildly subversive; always well-prepared.