Reviews for Leland Frederick Saunders
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: A November 7, 2011, 3:49 am | Very fun course. Saunders is a GREAT lecturer - I don't remember being bored even once in his class. This class consists of learning about controversial issues during lecture, and debating about them in discussion. Lots of fun. My TA wasn't that good so the students pretty much ran discussion. Four exams, occassional homework, 2 papers that were fun to write. Definitely a fun class, take it! |
| Anonymous Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: B May 24, 2011, 12:12 pm | easy to get a B, tests replicate the review sheets so you know the answers. However it is hard to get an A and i dont understand why it just is. its like hes looking for extra stuff on the exams like detail. this is an exam class, paper, and pop quizzes... which are iffy. he drops the two lowest i guess. |
| Anonymous Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: A May 6, 2011, 12:43 pm | This class was very easy. The questions on the exams were lifted from the study guides, and the paper is a piece of cake. Saunders is a really nice guy with some interesting takes on contemporary moral issues. Oh, and the TA was quite sexy. |
| ltilley Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: April 26, 2011, 2:30 pm | Professor Saunders is absolutely awesome. I took this for a CORE and got so much more out of it. It's so entertaining. You discuss abortion, gay marriage, legalizing drugs, war, terrorism, and torture. You do need the book there's readings before every class but they're usually short. There's 6 pop quizzes, 2 of your lowest grades are dropped. They're generally 4-5 true/false questions on the reading for that day. Apparently they can be given in discussion, but we've had 4 already and all have been in lecture. I have Lucas for my TA and have only been to discussion once, they're pretty much pointless. There's one paper on abortion, gay marriage, war, or drugs so it's opinion based, easy, 3-4 pages, and interesting. There's 3 exams and no final. They're so easy (I got 97% on first 2 and studied for an hour max). He gives you a study guide ahead of time and the questions on the study guide are pretty much the exact questions he puts on the tests. TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HIM. |
| CB Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: A March 24, 2011, 10:03 am | TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. This is an easy class to get an A in and Saunders makes the class easy. There are three exams and no final. There is one 4 page paper. There is assigned reading for every lecture and discussion, but the readings are short and manageable. This class fills a core requirement...take it. |
| Anonymous Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: B December 13, 2010, 2:24 pm | Professor Saunders is really great. The course itself is also really interesting, but Saunders makes you WANT to come to lecture every time. He explains all of the material, theories and concepts very clearly and his tests are also very straightforward. The study guides tell you exactly what you need to know. There is a paper and it really isn't that hard to do well on it. There are also 6 very short pop quizzes, so make sure you come to lecture and discussion whenever you can. My TA was decent, but the quality of your discussion section seems more up to the students in it. I'd definitely take another class with Saunders if I could. |
| Vas Blagodarskiy Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: A- December 2, 2010, 10:38 am | I feel like 40-something percent get B's from Prof. Leland just because they don't do that well on writing papers. I did really well on all of mine, so if you know how to write thoughts well, you will succeed. If you can learn how to use readings as supporting material, you will do fine. If you skip too many lectures, you will fall behind, but you will probably pass the exam if you skim over readings and review notes / PowerPoints. The exam review sheets cover everything you need to know for any exam - about 1/3 memorization (nothing too hard - PHIL140 makes sense once you learn it, you won't forget it), 2/3 concepts applications. My TA this semester sucked, but everyone has "that one TA" they don't like. Anyways, freshmen, if you're looking for an inspirational HO core requirement, Prof. Leland hits the nail on the head, every. single. lecture. |
| Anonymous Course: PHIL140 Grade Expected: A- May 18, 2010, 8:57 am | Saunders is the reason I came to lecture for 140. All the needed information for this class can be found in the readings and on the slides Saunders posts online. However, if you have Leland as your teacher, I would recommend going to lecture most of the time just to hear his witty comments and sarcastic humor. He really knows how to keep a class over 100 people engaged in the subject he is teaching. |
| Anonymous Course: PHIL100 Grade Expected: A- March 5, 2010, 3:20 pm | Saunders does an excellent job of making the material interesting and engaging. I enjoyed this class so much I decided to add philosophy as a second major after having no prior experience with the subject. The lectures do an excellent job of summarizing the readings as well as considering objections to the arguments presented. The lectures alone will probably prepare you to do well in the class and have a good understanding of the major philosophical issues presented but it is still worthwhile to do the readings and most of them are quite good. The short quiz and final exam are a breeze so most of your grade depends on your two papers (one of which is the midterm) and discussion participation. The TAs are difficult in their grading so make sure to put alot of effort into the papers and participate in discussion. I got an A- as opposed to an A because of showing up late to a few discussions (I still attended all of them) and not talking frequently enough (I talked at least once in almost every discussion). Still, despite tough grading by TAs the test grades will make sure you get a decent grade and the class is way more interesting than your typical 100 level intro class. Saunders is entertaining but also knowledgable and interesting to listen to. |
| Anonymous Course: PHIL100 Grade Expected: A December 18, 2009, 4:26 pm | I thought he was a pretty funny teacher. He tries hard to keep the class engaged which is tough to do in a 100 level class. Your grade is almost entirely decided by your TA so get on their good side. Material isn't that difficult if you go to lecture and pay attention. He puts his lecture notes online so it's okay to miss class occasionally but it is never smart to make a habit out of it. Papers can be somewhat tricky but they are manageable and in my experience graded fairly. I honestly stopped doing the readings early in semester because anything that is important or we get tested on is brought up in lecture. Long story short, it is more important to pay attention in class than to do the reading. |
| matta1111 Course: PHIL100 Grade Expected: b December 9, 2009, 9:13 am | He is an interesting professor. For 100, you have a really easy first exam, a paper midterm, a paper and a short answer final. Grading from the TA's is tough. He podcasts his lectures so you dont need to come to class. Readings are difficult, so thats what makes it a difficult class. |