Kenneth Westhues
- Name: Kenneth Westhues
- School: University of Waterloo
- Location: Waterloo, ON
- Department: Sociology
- 3.9Overall Quality
- 4.1Helpfulness
- 3.7Clarity
- 2.8Easiness
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Get Best prof at UW. He genuinely cares about the material he teaches, and the success of his students.
Excellent Prof.! I have taken 2 classes with him and he truly loves what he does. I learned a lot and didn?t mind attending class. 2nd year class: I found that the workload was fair. Study for the test! I also had a seminar and he is great with upper year students. Put in the time, show genuine interest and your grade reflects it nicely.
Amazing professor. Truly cares about his students, and about the world we live in. Passionate, enthusiastic, and an amazing scholar. Tries to spark an interest of learning in his students which is admirable. More professors should take note of this dynamic individual.
Excellent Professor. I am taking two more courses with him next term. He really cares about your progress and even about you, that is, your personal life,etc. He remarked my essay and gave me an extra 7 percent! Great guy. Just keep up with the readings and you'll do fine.
many already said it all. one of the most caring and passionate people i have ever met.midterm was hard so he made the final easier. gives opportunity for bonus marks through class presentation, do it its worth it! fieldtrip was also informative. overall an influential man, good lectures, READ&STUDY! bcuz it can be a hard clas if u dont!
He is an inspirational professor with a heart of gold! This man is a total genius and a pleasure to listen to. I found the course to be straightforward and easy enough with a little work. Keep up on the readings, and go to class and you will pull an 80.
Professor Westhues is the best professor at the University of Waterloo. I highly recommend any class taught by this professor. He is very helpful, cares about his students, and provides his students with the best lectures!
Professor Westhues was amazing and the class is extremely worthwhile. If given the opportunity definitely visit the Working Center it is a great experience. Loved every class and hope to take more courses with Professor Westhues in the future.
Very inspirational Prof. Even though I didn't do as well, I quite enjoyed the class; it made me want to attend. I could have done better, but my procrastination skills slowed me down. Prof. Westhues has the ability to take a dry subject and turn it into something intriguing using examples and stories and allegories that affect our everyday lives.
An absolutely moving and passionate prof. Top 3 in the University. Caring, understanding,and extremely helpful. Thanks so much for a great class!
Love Westhues. That said, this course is worth-taking on the merits of its content alone. As newbies to the working world most students don't really understand how powerless we've become in the work world. This course illustrates that clearly. The text is great. It's harder to do well in SOC 241 compared to his SOC 101, but you can still get +80%.
he insists on being called 'mr' and will address you in the same fashion. doesn't that say it all? AND remembers everyone's names w/o name tags! =) really cares about people; you can tell by the engaging lectures he prepares, the open discussion environment he fosters...and the readings are WORTH READING. put time into his courses & you'll love it
Great Prof, He made the class very fun, I would suggest you take a class from him if you can it will be well worth your time.
Very caring prof, with good teaching manner. He wants everyone to take something from the course which is helpful to them. He is clear in his expectations and is glad to help you to improve if you approach him.
Surprisingly interesting and throught provoking class. Assigned textbook reading and articles were much more interesting than I assumed, and held great "means something" today value, instead of assigning theory which is what was assumed for a class like this. Really showed a great care for students and care for students opinions and thoughts.
Awesome teacher! made everything so interesting, i hated sociology before his classes then ended up making it my specialty
199
The most unique and wonderful professor I have ever had the privilege of being a student of. I took Soc 101 with him after taking an arts 199 seminar with him. He treats you with respect and teaches real world lessons. If you're interested in learning by something other than the book, take his class. Thanks for everything, Mr. Westhues!
Mr Westhues's course is by no means an easy course. it requires thinking (hint: essay), but at the end, you learn a lot. he's got a great sense of humour, very approachable, and his ability to think in many different angles definitely make attending his class at night more enjoyable. I highly recommend his course to anyone who just want to learn.
Mr. Westhues is the reason I chose sociology as my major. Wow, I don't know how to praise this man's ability. I'm glad to know he will be reading this. Mr. Westhues, you have been such a positive influence to me! I cannot thank you enough.
What a brilliant professor who taught me always to take conflict and turn it into opportunity.
This class has the potential rule your whole semester because it requires a real commitment. If you commit fully you will write three tests, an essay and do a group presentation. There's tons of reading too. And you can only miss one class. That said, this course can be one of the most rewarding courses you'll take at Waterloo.
If u want an easy course this is not one for you. In this class you actually have to understand, and apply the material you are presented with(no more memorizing!) Most of his papers have no "rules", which is often hard for first years to understand. But all that said Westues is one of the best teachers i have had. TAKE THE CLASS!!
Yeah, he's a "nice" guy, but he's also a dinosaur in terms of his views, which he dances around in his first year class. Smells of archaic structural functionalism!!
great course. sometimes dragged on at the end of the night, but i learned a lot. dr. westhues is awesome and cares about each student, remembering your name, where you're from, etc. only annoying thing is his insistence on "mr" and "ms".... grrrrr. other than that... A++ prof!!!
Makes class very interesting... a genuine professor and a nice person. Takes an unbiased approach to the material he presents, and values different opinions present by the students. A little hard to follow sometimes... This class is not for people who rely on regurgitation!! A+
Thank God for professors like Westhues. I got sick of regurgitating information in highschool. A dialectically wonderful man.
Excellent course, really recommend taking it. Lets you do a final essay that you actually care about. The discussions are also worth while. Excellent professor.
The class was...unique. Mr. Westhues was a very interesting prof.-In a good way! I have never had a professor in university who actually takes the time to learn every students name in a class of 60+ people. He really is a great guy.
To remark on someone's posting, I have recieved marks in the high 90's and I still think the teacher is boring, useless and destroys all my interest in sociology.
It's obvious that anyone here who posts a negative remark is someone who did poorly on a test and feels angry toward Mr. Wetshues. He is not clueless, as anoyther post remarked, nor is his textbook useless. He is a great teacher, and I take heart in the fact that he will eventually read this.
This man is really a dying breed of teachers and he is that. He teaches in a different way and you have no clue what he is talking about. His book is useless, boring and does not help your life and your learning education. I loved SOC in HS, not anymore. Profs like him are the reason SOC is dying.
he is not clueless! whoever said that is just nuts. the best teacher/prof i have ever had, including elementary, hgih school, one year of college, and one year of university. they should clone this guy.
The only prof at Waterloo who remembers all the students names in every one of his classes. Takes a genuine interest in students, he is an ideal (and almost extinct) species of professor. I learned more than I ever imagined.
Being a first year student I couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Mr. Westhues was encouraging and helpful. I am greatful that I was in his class and hope to have more with him in the future.
Very difficult exam! Hard to study for it, too many readings to remember fine details of them and names of authors. He is a very nice prof though. If you run into problems he helps out.
Coming out of course wondering what the hell was that? Did we actaully learn anything? Test is impossible, ambiguous, and confusing! Prof was genuine however, and tried to teach the material in a fun way...good luck to those brave souls next semester!
I really enjoy his teaching style, and find it hysterical that he's probably reading this rating as a stat right now :)
His teaching style is a lot different from other profs, he treats his students as adults and equals, great personality and energy, textbook different but excellent if you don't like learning a course based on textbook definitions
C&I
Ironic - Westhues examines this very website and its problematic content. dont listen to any other comments - you dont need to- He is insightful and thought prevoking. This is the only class i have taken thus far where I didnt feel like just a student number. Cheers!
I enjoyed this class very much. I think Mr. Westhues is a very intersting knowledgeable professor and deserves only the best feedback from his students. Thanks for taking me away from calculus, physics and chem and teaching me something useful! All the best
His teaching style is different than most but very interesting. People that don't like him don't have open minds and just want the regular crap they get from the education system. He made me love sociology and he treats the students like equals rather than subordinates. Great Teacher!
he delivers interesting lectures but hard to understand his textbook (he wrote it himself). exams are hard.
Very nice prof. Gives interesting lectures.His systems are bad though.Not many chances to pull up your marks(essays are only about 15% of your total marks).Exams are EXTREMELY HARD due to his difficult language that he used. Also, focuses too much on details. But nice prof.
do not take soc 101 from him, his class is hard to follow, his readings do not make sense, its almost next too impossible to study for his tests, the only good part about him is that he is freindly, easy going if problems occur, but thats about it
Amazing! He gives great lectures and is very funny. Very clear and to the point. Would DEFINATELY take another course offered by him.
awesome prof! he makes the class very lively and interesting. i really enjoyed the course. its not too hard, but gives you something to think about.
A hard working and passionate prof. He can be the best prof in your university career if you are on the same intellectual wavelenghts as him. He desreves the award for "distinguished prof". go to his website and you will see what I mean.
Prof. Westhues PUT ME TO SLEEP. Would you please stop talking about the library in Mosouri and start talking about something related to the course?
This class was by far, the most well taught, well explained, most interesting class I have taken thus far in university. If you want to enjoy your learning experience, Prof Westhues is right for you! EXCELLENT PROF! Exams are tough, so be prepared & READ!
If you're thinking about getting into the social sciences, this prof is for you! I just transferred from CS to Sociology and I'm glad I had Ken to start me off in my new field. He is incredibly insightful!
Had class essentially teach itself. He rambled somewhat, readings were good and tests were given out ahead. Very unclear. Class off campus in work centre, that was positive. Generally good course, but somewhat diorganized and boring.
I'm a science student, but I think that prof. Westhues is a good prof. Sometimes he may be a bit vague, and his classes have a lot of reading, but overall it is a positive experience
It's "sociology" not "socialogy".The course notes are a little boring/hard to follow. But he wrote them himself. He moves around when talking and says a lot of nothing. But he's a good guy! Notice: his lectures are worthless, but every
I greatly appreciate his methods of teaching. He doesn't give us terms to memorise - instead he gives us an opportunity to think on our own. If you are tired of being spoon-fed this is the course for you! This is what University is about!
very demanding prof that knows his stuff. Don't listen to the b-utt kis-sers about this class being easy!
Definetely a learning experience. If you're looking for a "birdcourse" dont take it because you're in for more work than expected for a intro soc class, but the Prof is great, & if you put time into the class you will definetely get a lot out of
Mr. Westhues is a very interesting prof, choosing to avoid a textbook, in favor of readings. His assignments and midterms are VERY easy, as long as you read the assigned readings (just once), and can BS even a little. An easy, average boosting class.
He is an interesting prof, i like how he uses practical ways of thinking, his stories are useful, he has no problems explaining things for his class, he is there to help you learn, u will not be spoon fed, but you will be inspired.
Just because you think i'm taking socialogy to fill an elective doesn't mean you have to be an ****** and not answer my legitmate questions!
If you genuinely care about your students then you won't give something this hard on a midterm. I found my Calculus 3 midterm easier than this c-r-a-p!
Please make him stop teaching....please....Please....PLEASE! I'll pray every night from now on PLEASE!
Humm...i asked how to study for the midterm. my answer was read some of his Course note garbage. The assignments are easy-I was **** writing one of the assignments and got the highest mark in the class. (not a bird course) recommend phil 145 or music140
Most horrible prof I have ever encountered. He doesn't teach! All he does is talk about his stupid problems (believe me he has lots! Like the antenna growing out of his head!). He makes the text soooooooo boring. Stay out of his classes.
Really nice guy, very approachable. Didn't like the text book, hard to grasp-to much philosophy added in there. Tests SUCKED. I have never failed a test before his class. But the course wasn't too painful, not a bird course by any means.
This was definitely the best course I took this term. Professor Westhues is awesome! I learned so much. He’s not conventional, but he encourages you to learn for yourself, and inspires people! The test is a little hard however.
prof westhues is honestly one of the best profs i have ever had. i think he is absolutely inspiring, and although the course can be dry at times, it is no way a reflection of his teaching!!
What a bad class! If I hear the words “dialectical” or “empirical” one more time, I swear…
He's definitely the nicest prof I've had. I learned more from him than any other class. Only thing is, the test was a little hard.
His class is terrible, it is so dull, and I really regret taking it! Well with him as the teacher anyway. I had to purchased this collection of articles he wrote, useless crap. I wanted an intro to soc, with clear concepts not the lack of guidance I have
I found this course to be absolutely useless. Westhues's lectures were dry, dull and boring. I retained NO knowledge from the course whatsoever.
Excellent teacher, very good speaker, interesting. Take his courses if you want to be educated. If you are in school just for the diploma then don't bother.
Informative, intelligent, charismatic. If your looking to learn he is your man, if you want a bird course, fly somewhere else.
Great teacher, interesting material, applicable to life, very approachable, very nice person. But, VERY VERY hard tests, exams and essays.
A pretty good course, with a great teacher who is very knowledgable with what he teaches. Even handed out a book of social papers to me for being one of the students who participated in class, which was pretty cool.
Westhues is the sweetest old man ever. His final was difficult, but the class is formatted to make you think and challenge your preconceptions of the world. Very interesting material and readings. Oh, and the only textbook he requires costs $25. YAY!
Awseome teacher,and down to earth. He's a great writer too. He made me think about switching my major to soc. He, may be getting old, but he can relate to students very well. He isn't afraid to swear in class, which makes it funny. Also,he's very logical.
he's a good guy. tests may be somewhat difficult. he uses parts of his life for examples of what we're learning.
My favourite professor - relates material to real life - talks to you like you're a real person
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