Latner, Michael  

I took this class during Latner's first quarter at calpoly, so I was sceptical, but I ended up actually enjoying him. He is young, and I think he understands what its like to be a student. He tried to make the class more enjoyable with an interactive web based program, which I dont know how I feel about, but if you put effort into the class, its pretty hard not to pass. I would take him again.

Mike is an awesome new professor at Cal Poly. He's a good guy and we even chatted for awhile at Farmer's. I think that if you took poly sci in high school at all you'll do fine in this class. I bought the books but didn't pick them up the entire quarter, so if you remember your stuff from your HS class and still have some info left in you, you could save a few bucks. LegSim is big. Put a few hours into it and you're golden. One hint: Organize a system to take the online Blackboard quizzes. As a group it would be very easy to get 10/10 on every one if you're creative. That's where I lost the A. I recommend Mike to anyone who likes chill professors and doesn't mind a relaxed class.

Easy A. Lots of extra credit opportunities and participation is huge. I like the fact that our grade was not heavy based on the final and there is no midterm. There are 5 online quizzes and they are fairly easy. He also drops your lowest quiz score.

Latner was a really outstanding guy. EXTREMELY knowledgeable and passionate about American Government. Besides the reading, which was dry as a desert (but not necesary by any means), all the projects and lectures in the class are really interesting. The class really opened my eyes to a side of politics that gets lost in the media. Highly recommended.

Mike's the man (aside from his man-crush on James Madison) I came into this class thinking it would be a joke, but I learned a TON and had a lot of fun. The class was set up like the house of representatives- each student acts a rep for a constituency (where you're from) and is also placed in one of 4 political parties, based on your political leanings. The class elected party leaders, a speaker, committees were formed, and committee chairs were chosen. The objective was to write a bill and pass it through the committees to make it a law. This class is on my list of top 3 "most interesting classes taken at poly" classes. I hope the same is true for you, if you take Latner! I don't know why you'd take POLS 112 from anyone else!

Mike's the man (aside from his man-crush on James Madison) I came into this class thinking it would be a joke, but I learned a TON and had a lot of fun. The class was set up like the house of representatives- each student acts a rep for a constituency (where you're from) and is also placed in one of 4 political parties, based on your political leanings. The class elected party leaders, a speaker, committees were formed, and committee chairs were chosen. The objective was to write a bill and pass it through the committees to make it a law. This class is on my list of top 3 "most interesting classes taken at poly" classes. I hope the same is true for you, if you take Latner! I don't know why you'd take POLS 112 from anyone else!

He is an extremely nice guy and i can tell he loves and fully understands politics. However, i didn't get anything out of the class and i really wanted to. He is hard to follow and expects you to know a lot prior to the class, unfortunately i didn't so i was lost from the beginning and i know of many people who felt the same.

Overall the class was not too hard. Easy online quizes, one paper, and a non-cumulative final. I think Latner knows that many people find political science boring so he does his best to make it interesting. I would suggest taking this for a GE.

Pretty easy class. There are 5 online quizzes and he drops the lowest one. They're hard to do on your own but are really easy to do in a group. Make sure you spend a lot of time on LegSim because he can tell how long you've been on it. Lectures are boring as hell, but make sure you go because he does in class 'games' and you need to sign in. Pretty easy to get an A . I only got a B+ because I didn't study AT ALL for the final and didn't really do much else the entire quarter. I would definitely take Latner for POLS 112.

If you are not familiar with political science, be ready to get confused in what he will be lecturing on. He expects his students to know the basic aspects of our political system and terms. Dont worry though, this is a fairly easy class. Make sure during the first day of school, get in a group of five and make a coalition to take the 5 quizzes assigned. What my friends and I did was to have someone each week to do a quiz and let that person share the answer to the rest. From there, everyone takes turn. Youll end-up getting high scores on the quizzes except one due to the fact that you were the scapegoat that week. But dont worry, he drops the lowest grade. Went in the class with an A, got a D on the exam, and manage to pull a B in the class. TAKE HIM IF YOU ARE NOT SCARED TO SOCIALIZE TO CREATE A GROUP FOR HIS ONLINE QUIZZES. PS. I went into the class expecting to learn more about our political system since I /goofed-off/ during my political science class in high school. If you want to learn, TAKE A DIFFERENT PROFESSOR.

Although Latner may be a nice guy, he is TERRIBLE teacher! DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU DON'T LOVE POLITICS AND ALREADY KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!! His lectures are really boring and his power points are like novellas that you don't have time to copy down (and he doesn't post them). He doesn't explain projects well and the in-class games don't make any sense. This class is supposed to be an entry level class, but he teaches it as though it were a political theory class for POLS majors. If you don't dig politics or if you want an easy A, DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS!!!

this was an okay class. lectures were relaly borin gand i ended up falling asleep in a couple of them... no midterm, just some assignments and a final. you take 4 online quizzes on blackboard... overall it wasnt that bad but this guy is a little overrated.

Polyratings lied to me. This guy is not that easy. His quizzes were a pain in the butt to take and I have no idea where any of the questions came from. He said that all of them were on lectures, but THAT WAS A LIE. I took notes and went to class everyday and I did not recognize any of the material at all. Don't buy the textbooks, unless you're actually interested in political science. It was a waste of money to buy them. Once in a while, there were good discussions, but most of the time it was unbelievably boring. His powerpoints are dry and contain so much unnecessary information. I wish that I had taken a different class to fulfill my GE requirement.

I'll admit that I actually busted my balls for my A, but Latner's class was really enjoyable in my honest opinion. LegSim is big time points. Don't slouch on this, and be as active as you can in the online simulator, it pays off. Try to get a chair position, or be a party leader. It's a little extra work, but it forces you to keep up with shit, and will send you in the direction of an A if you aren't totally lazy. The reading was pretty boring. I never did it. We had 5 quizzes that were moderately challenging, but not nearly as hard as the nimrods below me have indicated. You can always eliminate two or more answers on every question, and from there, you just need to apply a little thought and knowledge from class, and you're sure to get 8 or 9 out of 10 every time. The essay was a bit challenging...not writing it, but actually digging up the information was laborious. The assignment is given with ample time to complete it, so don't stress, but don't put that shit off, because it's a midterm in terms of its point worth. The final was non-cumulative, so at this point, you were only being tested on half of the material, which was nice. I think it was like 20 or 30 MC questions (piss easy) and a couple written prompts no more than a page. All things said, Latner is a really cool professor, he does his best to make a GE worthwhile, and if you're open to dedicating a little bit of time to his class, you will enjoy your experience and come out with a good grade.

Do not take Latner, his material is unclear and not easily recognizable, also he does not return grades so you don't know your standing in the class. He expects his 100 level classes to perform full research papers. Do not take this class.

I don't know what everyone is crying about. I never opened one of the books or studied for this class and pulled off a high B. The quizzes are hard, but it doesn't really affect your grade that much. He's a super cool guy and his lectures aren't that boring if you pay attention to what he's saying. The policy brief and group project were challenging but everyone I know got and A or B. Not a big deal at all. I recommend him if you are a POLS major because his perspective is really interesting.

This is a fairly easy class to pass, even if you don't read any of the material and wind up bombing the quizzes. As long as you do well on the opinion brief and the final power point project, you can at least attain a C. My problem with this class was that I didn't learn a damn thing. I am interested in politics, and I absolutely loved my government class in high school, but Professor Latner managed to make even interesting topics dreadfully boring. Also, he had an annoying habit of making everything overly complicated; his test questions were often so wordy and convoluted that you had to take a few minutes to figure out what the hell he was asking. In addition, I and many other students felt cheated by the final because it did not turn out to be what he had said. Professor Latner told us that the large majority of the test questions were going to be straight out of the quizzes that we had had over the course of the quarter, and he assured us that if we just studied the questions (which he provided online) we would do well. A few of my classmates and I formed a group to work on finding the right answers to the test questions he had provided, and came in to class the next day feeling confident because we had studied what we had been told to study. In reality, maybe 20% of the questions on the final turned out to be questions from the quizzes, and the questions that we had never encountered before were written in such a way that it was difficult to discern what we were being asked. I know that it is perfectly fair for a teacher to test students on anything that was covered in the class and so these questions that were not part of the quizzes we had taken were technically fair game... but I do not think it was right of him to basically lie about what we were going to be tested on. If he had just told us that studying the quiz questions would not be sufficient, then it would have been fine. Professor Latner seems like a very nice guy. Unfortunately, I feel like he would make a better buddy than professor. Although he was obviously knowledgeable and enthusiastic about American politics, he really wasn't very good at conveying information to his students in a way that we could understand. I have come out of this class with nothing but credits. I have fulfilled a GE requirement, and for that I am satisfied. But I have no more knowledge about the workings of the American government than I did when I came to Professor Latner's first lecture.

I hated this class so much. It was called American and Californian Government, but should have been called The Differences between the World's Democracies. All we did was look at how America compared to countries like France and Jamaica based on the World Values Survey, which is a giant list of random questions asked to people all over the world. It doesn't even say anything about the government system at all, only what people think about religion or how many children they have. I know absolutely nothing about California's government at all. We had to use that stupid survey, which, I may add, is only available in the library, to write both of the major papers in the class. The quizzes he gives have such complicated, wordy questions that he will barely explain if you ask. I disagree with the person below me though, all the final's questions seemed to be taken directly from the quizzes, so all I had to do was memorize them, not actually learn anything. He doesn't post his powerpoints on Blackboard after the first one, which is a pain. He is also the most boring person to listen to. I fell asleep during the first and second lectures. If you want to take up some time in the class, ask him about Flemish beer, or any beer. I would never reccommend him under any circumstance, you should get a USCP out of your D1 area.

Prof. Latner definitely knows a ton about American government. It's pretty obvious that he cares a lot about his students and tries to make class a good experience for everyone. The material can be a little dry sometimes, but he makes up for it by being really approachable and funny. I would take his class again!

This guy is the worst teacher that I have ever had, he lectures for two hours and you dont retain any of what he says. dont take him because he doesn't make any sense and is so BORRRRRRRRRRRRINNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you want to have an interesting class you won't take this one because his online quizzes are complete bull shit, he words them so difficult that you have no clue what the question is asking and you just fail them everytime. Latner knows a lot, but is just a bad teacher.

Without a doubt the worst teacher i've ever had high school included which says a lot. He had a kid halfway through the term so I give him a little slack, but he cancelled classes basically halfway through and basically said he won't have much contact with us. The whole class is based upon a game that only six people can play in a class of 250. He never told us what to study or when stuff was due etc. He should be fired.

Before I can evaluate Mike Latner, you should know some background information about me. I am a sophomore at Cal Poly, and I currently hold a 3.8 cumulative GPA, and trust me, this is not because I have taken the simple route through college. Now for the evaluation: Mike Latner is most likely one of the poorest professors I have had. He isn't a bad person, nor is he unintelligent, but he can't convey the subject matter in a way that is understandable. He did post all of the lectures on blackboard, but this did not prove to be helpful because the man feels he needs to construct the subject matter on the slides in a way that is impossible to understand. The online quizzes and the final are worded so difficultly that it is nearly impossible to pass due to the ambiguity of the questions. I think much of the reason this class was difficult was because much of the material was not graded going into the final (so we had no idea how we needed to perform), and he was unavailable for much of the term due to his "maternity leave" to be with his wife. The papers that were assigned had to be completed through a program only available in the library, and he changed what he was looking for in the assignment through emails several times. The subject matter is not directly related to American and California gov't, so if that's what you're looking for, this class may not be appropriate for you.

Although Professor Latner seemed to know the material, he was terrible at conveying it. He requires you to buy 3 books from which you will never use. (If you're like me, you'll use them for the first 3 reading assignments just in case he tests you on them, realize it's a waste of time, and put them away until its time to sell them back...(one of which the bookstore "wasn't buying back at this time"). As mentioned in another review- his quiz system is terribly flawed and encourages cheating. I have a conscience, so I can honestly say that I EARNED my B in his class. The worst thing I can say about this class is that Professor Latner was extremely slow to grade anything. (to his defense, his wife did have a baby and he was on paid leave) but it was ridiculous how ambiguous my grade was at the end of the quarter. Over one-half of my grade was unaccounted for. I didn't know how I did on either of the two major papers--the opinion brief or group paper (a large chunk of your grade). For the final- we were told that the 50 question test would be "A review of quiz questions". In reality- only about half of the Final questions were questions I had seen before on the quizzes. (I memorized the quiz questions and answers in preparation for the final) Overall Latner's class is extremely "passable" all you have to do is turn in your work and you'll pass. If you are aiming for a high grade- I wouldn't advise taking Latner because he is very unclear and I don't feel that his class tests your ability to understand political science-he tests your ability to decipher what he's asking for in his wordy questions.

Like the other evaluation said, his wife had a baby near the end of the quarter and he was never there. Im not going to hold that aganist him. This class is taught copartivly no like this is what you need to know about the US govt. which i dont like. I apprached this class with a 5 on the AP Govt exam but it didnt count for anything becuase the class is taugh comparitvly. He is not biased with politicals parties. I think he assigns readings, but you deffently dont need to do them. Dont even buy the books, trust me dont. i know what your thinking, just dont buy the books or read them. If you still want to share them and split the cost. normal blackboard quizzes, one paper to write, then a group paper and a final exam pretty much are the class. he does these games in class which only like the group leaders can participate in so all you have to do is go to class. I would suggest going to class so you know stuff for the final. Overall we didnt really learn much, he kind of tough logic not info. he kind of assumes you took govt in high school, which in my county everybody did in 9th grade. This class doesnt really help you in life like a GE should, its really only good if you are going into POLS

It started off decent, but when his wife had a baby it was all down hill. I understand he was on "paid leave"; however, there were three canceled classes and two classes with guest speakers so it was really hard to get a thorough understanding of the subject matter. I felt he did not care about the students at all- he NEVER GRADED anything, so grades in the class were completely unclear and there was no room for improvement since he had no office hours the last 3-3 1/2 weeks of the quarter. He is very intelligent and kind, but a horrible professor. I have taken 15 college classes so far, and he is the FIRST CLASS I have EVER recieved lower than an "A" in because I had little control over helping myself since he didn't grade anything, didn't have office hours at the end, didn't have CLASS at the end, and didn't post the quizzes we were instructed to study until hours before the final. I love political science, but this was a baaaad experience.

Basically what everyone below me has said is true. I'm sure my class was a special case because he left for maternity leave, however, I stil don't think that is a good excuse for his lack of attention to his class. At the beginning of the quarter, he did not tell us he would be gone the last 3-4 weeks of the quarter because his wife was having a baby. Personally, I would have dropped the class if I had known that I would only have an instructor for 6 weeks, but I'm not sure if everyone else would have done the same. Aside from that, there were 2 essays, one individual and one group. He basically changed the assignment over e-mail a couple of times, and it was never entirely clear what exactly we were supposed to write. The five quizzes are easy and probably about 1/3 of the final questions are straight from the quizzes. As far as the final, the other 1/3 are common sense and the last third are poorly written questions that are hard to understand, but if you read them about four times, you can kinda figure out what he's asking. My class had over 200 people in it, so I'm not sure if he changed his syllabus from what it would have been in a smaller class or if this is how he always teaches. I think the key things to know about Latner and his POLS 112 class are that he doesn't return grades, is a boring lecturer (though he tries to make it interesting by cracking jokes), and you only need to show up for game days because he takes attendance and it counts toward your grade.

Where was Latner last quarter? God only knows. Work your ass off on the paper, go to most of the lectures, and get into a group on the first day of class to take the quizzes. As long as you have a group to take quizzes with, you're good. The reading sucks, but is kind of useful. Latner CANNOT, for the life of him, make a good powerpoint. There are no midterms, and the final is kind of based on the quizzes. However, the class is in a huge lecture hall, so it's easy to buddy-system on the final. As long as you do well on the paper, it's an easy A.

Super boring, I slept 1/2 of the classes.. Never took notes because the slides were online. I somehow got 100% on the first quiz. It seemed really hard at the time but I was very pleasantly surprised (big curve). This class just sucks you can't blame Latner.

I was extremely disappointed in this class. Professor Latner basically read off the slides, which were posted on Blackboard. There were 2 quizzes, which weren't difficult, but were worded strangely. He never returned any of our assignments throughout the quarter, and never contacted us if he wasn't able to open our online assignments- basically, if you weren't paying attention and nagging him to fix your grade all quarter, you'd be screwed. I took this class as an elective because I enjoy political science, but this class was a huge waste of time. Professor Latner seems like a good guy, but is not a good professor.

Professor Latner was really boring. It was really hard to make myself go to that class and sit through it for two hours, but most of the time we got out early. He also cancels class a lot, which rocks. Pretty much for the entire class period he just runs powerpoints and reads from them, and throughout the quarter he assigns three fairly easy papers that you do in groups. Our final solely consisted of questions taken from the five quizzes he has on hi blackboard, so study those and you should be fine.

This class is extremely boring. I spend most the time on facebook. It is so hard to pay attention especially because i have no interest in this subject. However, the final was really easy. Take all the 6 quizzes he has online. They are very very VERY beneficial for the final. Note: how I managed an A in this class. Also there are 3 essay assignment you have with a group of 3. Be on top of those if your group member isn\'t because they count for a majority of your grade along with the quizzes and the final. Overall, this class is a great time for facebooking but just make sure to take the notes from the powerpoints.

Under NO circumstances should you take this class! He is by far the worst Professor I\'ve ever had at Poly. He does not answer e-mails, he\'s unclear when it comes to what he expect and the material in general. the class is suppose to be on American and California government asses if the american system of government is the best out there, and california hasn\'t been mentioned once. There readings he assigns but fails the provide the material to blackboard, but the reading don\'t really pertain to anything we discuss in class. He sometimes posts lecture outlines online but has never followed them once. Finally there are two research papers due in the class, but you must work with a partner. there is a 5.5 page limit, yet he requires so much information that to keep the paper with in the limit you are reduced to \"caveman\" talk. even if you were to address every point with a one sentance response the paper would be close to 7 or 8 pages If all you need is this class to graduate, wait another quarter and take something else

Latner is not an effective political science professor. I learned absolutely nothing in that class, and the class was a bore. However, tests are pretty easy if you study quiz questions. Work in groups on the quizzes. As for the group assignments, they are completely confusing and it is difficult to figure out what he expects with the assignments... A couple hours spent asking questions in his office helps. Do the work and you should be fine; just know that you will be bored and confused and will learn nothing.

He is a great professor with an awesome sense of humor. It\'s a class worth taking, if you are willing to do the work. The comments on this page bother me, if you don\'t want to do any work, WHY ARE YOU IN COLLEGE?! I don\'t know what people expect. It is not a teachers job to give you an A for chatting on facebook disrespectfully during class. People wonder why the California education system is going to shit. How is a teacher or a school for that matter going to get motivated to teach you if you only expect and A for no effort? Stop wasting your money and drop out if all you want to do is complain about reading and papers.

This is supposed to be a CA and US Government class... we did not talk about California at all... but we did manage to cover Parliament. He is a professor that can speak for 2 straight hours and say nothing. This may be attributed to the fact he makes up words as he speaks and uses words in sentences that don\'t make sense. It\'s hard to understand the grammatically illiterate. He makes up how he is going to grade you as he goes along (the syllabus certainly was not followed). Everyone I talked was confused on what was expected. Prepare for a final that is 50% of your grade and based on opinion questions. i.e. \"The strongest mechanism for transmission of culture is ________.\" Tell me that\'s not a biased question. In this class you will learn nothing and still get a bad grade... lovely.

If you do not have to take this class, don\'t. Your effort and understanding does not accurately reflect your grade in any regard. The red flag to this course: One exam worth half of your grade, in which the content is unknown and study material is vague. I could learn just as much from sparknotes about government and politics as I did in this 10 week class. If you ARE taking this class read the outline ahead of the lecture and add in important information and highlight general connections/concepts. He doesn\'t tell you but the required reading is more of a reference and his outline is what you will be tested on. There is no need to memorize important dates. Do everything assigned on black board.

I had the last rotation for schedule for the quarter and this class happened to be open. My word of advice is take another class if the opportunity arises. We had absolutely no preparation for the final and it is almost certain that everybody in the class failed the final. The final is worth 50% of your grade and most definitely will drop your grade an entire letter. Even if you love government, the lecture outlines and the books do not cover the material on the final. Register for this class at your own risk.

I took this class as a GE thinking that it won\'t be that bad because I have always been good in government. I took AP\'s all throughout high school and got A\'s in all of those classes. I attended every single lecture and did all of the discussion boards and other assignments as well. Going into thee final I had a sold A, and coming out of the final i recieved a B. This final, worth 50% of the grade, dropped me an entire letter grade. It would be one thing if I had not preparded for this final, but I did several hours of studying and memeorizing. Latner does not prepare you for the final whatsoever and does not tell what to study or what is on it. The only way to get an A in this class is if you go to every lecture, take effecient notes, and print out all of his outlines. The material we learned was the same stuff I have learned in any other Gov class I have taken. However, the final covered material that I have never seen before. My suggestion is not to take this class if you have the option. Pick a differnt GE, unless you are okay with all the work you put into during the quarter to be basically erased after the final.

This class was a joke, I had no idea what he was going to put on the final, which was 50% of my grade. everyone failed the final and my grade went from an A to a C. No body went to class because it was so boring and he would talk in circles. His lecture outlines made little sense due to all the grammatical errors. His syllabus that was supposed to outline the class was terribly wrong, he changed every assignment and it was a guessing game to see what was going on. I learned nothing from this class. He was also terrible with grades, it took him forever and before the final it said I had a 24 out of 20, which i guess is a 92%... Do Not Take this class unless it is the last one open

I will agree that Latner has no idea what he\'s doing, talks about nothing relevant at all, expects students to follow along to his bullshit lectures, but all you that are complaining about not being able to get an A are wrong. I took this class fall quarter and it was the stupidest class I\'ve ever taken, but I was still able to get an A with an adequate amount of studying. If you really can\'t manage an A in this class, then I\'m not quite sure what you\'re doing wrong.

Latner definitely knows how to present information to the class clearly, every minute gone by that he\'s lecturing is packed full of information. MAKE SURE that you know what/when he wants turned in for assignments, cause that prevented so many people from getting the grade they wanted. It wasn\'t clear at all. The final was the worst part though with NO way of telling what he was going to test us on, everyone in my huge 150+ person class was freaking out about what to study for, and it ended up being a difficult/tricky final that I felt so ready for before I took it. DON\'T BUY THE CLASS BOOKS, you don\'t need them.

His class was changed completely than the one last quarter. His lectures are the dryer than the desert. I thought I could withstand his boringness but I guess I couldnt. Everyone had their laptops out because the room has WiFi. The grading for this quarter was 50% was final and %50 were random easy assignments... I had a B+ goin in the final. The final was so hard literally everyone I asked and myself failed it. I ended up with a C from a B+. Clearly his outlines did not prepare us. I hope no one takes him.

Selling 2/3 of the books for POLS 112. Cheaper than El Corral Contact me Tchan05@calpoly.edu Books: Good Citizen Political Institutions in United States

Latners class is kind of boring but hes a good guy and will help you learn some government for the most part, the paper isnt hard and makes up a lot of your grade. Also I the book store sells 2 of the books for 45 EACH, which is crap because they buy back for only 10. Im willing to sell mine for 20 or 25 each, LET ME KNOW BEFORE QINTER QUARTER STARTS BECAUSE YOU NEED THESE BOOKS.

I would not recommend signing up for this class. Latner is an extremely boring lecturer, and his class is not worth going to at all. You can learn everything in his class by going to the first and last class and reading the books. Do the assignments and its pretty easy to pass his class

I would not recommend signing up for this class. Latner is an extremely boring lecturer, and his class is not worth going to at all. You can learn everything in his class by going to the first and last class and reading the books. Do the assignments and its pretty easy to pass his class

I am not one of those students to not do my work, be on facebook during class, or blow off a midterm. I believe that students earn the grade they are given. However, I literally had no idea what was going on the whole quarter. I read the books, went to ever lecture, and participated in the 15 member group project. However, I still barely managed to pull a C. I never knew what I received on my assignments and had no idea how to study for the final. His tests and quizzes are extremely hard and his lectures honestly make no sense. Don't take this class unless you have previous knowledge of the American Government.

he must have changed the course or something, because i did not think that this class was bad at all. in fact, it was one of my more enjoyable calsses. if you just go to class and participate in the games/discussion questions that he asked you to turn in, it should be a pretty easy A. you have two online midterms (work with someone to find the answers), a final (just read, it really isn't that hard), and a final group paper (pretty easy...). overall, pretty easy class; i would say ignore the reviews on here, because i heard that he completely changed class from the past..

Oh my gosh seriously! He actually is a very intelligent man, BUT SO FREAKIN BORING! I could never stay awake in that class. More than half the class didn't show up for lectures because there really is no point. Either you show up, stay awake and do good or you don't show up, read the book and do well. The class is pretty easy but if you don't keep up you will get left behind. If you want a class that won't put you to sleep, don't take this one!!

Latner gets a bad rep, but he's not as bad a professor as some people say. His classes is structured out of 150 points: In-class games - 10pts, weekly online forums - 20pts, two midterms - 50pts, group project - 20pts, final - 50pts. The in-class games are pretty basic and you just have to show up to get credit, the weekly online forums are also simple points if you just spend 20 minutes doing them each week, the midterms aren't too hard and all the information comes directly out of the chapters he assigns for readings (plus they are open note and open book), the group project is definitely the worst part of the class (its a 20 page paper on a topic that you don't discuss until the week it's due so your paper is pretty much done by the time you talk about it and the instructions he gives you aren't very explicit), the final is a big part of your grade so you have to study for it. Overall, Latner's only fault is the lack of clarity with assignments he gives you, but he's a very knowledgable professor and you can learn a lot about American and California Government if you pay attention.

i didnt really like this class. it wasnt too difficult but the lectures were extremely boring and he usually talked for the full 2 hours. he never really had a lecture prepared but he would ask the class questions and teach based on their feedback. the one thing that pissed me off about his class was how unorganized he was. he never posted grades so i had no clue how i was doing in the class going into the final. theres 2 open book midterms and a 20 page group paper. and the final isnt open book

latner's a pretty cool guy. very friendly, very knowledgeable, very helpful. the course is well organized as well. highly recommended to get the GE done. group project is easier than it sounds at first, just split up the work and use a google doc, that's the easiest way. in conclusion: this is a good course/professor to take.

Professor Latner is great! He was available for office hours and was always welcoming. He is easy to approach and very down to earth. If you want to avoid wasting your time on tedious activities, take this professor. The weekly response papers were really simple to do as long as you know the main concepts for that week's lectures. Dedicate some time to this class and you're guaranteed an A. The tests were online which helped a lot in boosting the grades. The "group project" was not challenging at all. The reason being that with 5 people in your group, the workload is not as bad if everyone takes on their load. We had one person do the research for articles and distribute them and three people to write their sections based on the given articles. The last person was assigned the task of organizing and pulling the essay together as if one person wrote it. They wrote the introduction and conclusion. Then, as a whole, the group would aid in editing for the final version. I spent about a week, 2 hours each day to read, brainstorm and write my portion of the paper. This professor does a good job in making you interested in politics. Even though the lectures did tend to get long, I found myself learning a lot from his discussions and from the readings. I thought I wouldn't like POLS but I was wrong!

Probably one of the most vague professors of all time. He just gets in class and starts rambling about random crap. He uses terms and concepts that the class doesnt know. It would be better if he just got off his high horse and used laymans terms so that the students could understand what he is talking about. The lecture is useless, half the class doesnt show up and half the kids that are there are sleeping. He will put you to sleep! Even if you are drinking coffee. His term group project is the extreamly unclear, the guidelines for the project are described in a few sentences, so the students pretty much have to make up the project themselves. On top of that he likes to wear tuxedo vests with a t-shirt which makes the class that much worse.

Latner was a cool guy, and honestly that's the only thing that didn't make me hate the course. Well, yeah I hated the course, but not him. I would just show up to class and do stuff on my laptop the entire time because his lectures are literally two hours of book material, needless to say I had plenty of other things I'd rather spend my time doing. The only reason I showed up at all was for the random participation assignments which weren't bad, you just had to be there for them. The weekly quizzes were little bastards, four questions in five minutes on 20+ pages of pols reading. Not only was the reading the painful and uninteresting, the questions would sometimes be vague and hard to get the right answer, 2 out of 4's plagued my grade, but in the end didn't affect it too much. The group project is fine since it's split up across the quarter, it's just a really lame thing to spend time on. The final, a big chunk of our grade, sucked ass. So it's on 30+ hours of lecture 300+ pages of a book, but don't worry your only expected to remember really specific stuff. I was really pissed taking the final because of how unfamiliar a lot of the questions were. I mean yeah the class is passable with minimal effort, but you won't enjoy it to say the least.

Class: Lecture that lasted 1:45 most classes, the material is very dry. He would have in class "games" and activities in the beginning of the quarter, but the activities at the end of the quarter would be a daily paper in class inside of your 4 person group, which might be tougher than doing it alone honestly. You either love Latner, or you hate him, there's not a lot of middle ground. I liked him until about week 5, when I emailed him a simple question and he gave me a smart ass answer back. His choice to do so, and so it's my choice to dislike the man. Grading: 10% online essay due the friday of week 1 20% midterm that he allowed us to take individually, or in this collective group. The group got a 90, individuals averaged like an 83%. True, a lot of slackers join the group (one girl signed up and walked out before it started, he couldn't do anything to stop her), but historically he's said that the group has outperformed individuals 10% on the individual portion of a group paper on some public policy 20% as the final version of your groups paper (essentially 5% of your grade is for each of the 4 group members' edited papers to turn in during week 10) 30% final, which was 30 multiple choice questions and one essay. Mult choice had a lot to do with definitions from early on in the quarter, while the rest was just random information about the federal government, not even really about the specifics of his lectures. Essay was the same prompt as the week 1 paper we wrote, easy shit right there 10% peer review at the end of the quarter hope that added up to 100%, too lazy to check

Dr. Latner knows his stuff, and presents the material in an engaging and clear way. He has ample office hours, and is willing to work with scheduling conflicts that arise with assignments and tests. There is not a whole lot of work to do in the class, but it is expected that you read the assigned chapters before lecture and take part in class activities. There is a midterm/final, and a group research paper that makes up about 80% of the final grade. There is some opportunity for extra credit as well. Dr. Latner is the rare combination of being really cool, really smart, and having a good structure to his course that is clear.

holy shit. his classes are so boring. and are two hours and everyone around you is like HOLY SHIT GET ME OUT OF HERE (as the entire class is dozing off in front of their MAC screens faacebook stalking, online shopping, etc.) just dont take this class

Professor Latner was very very underwhelming as a professor, there was too much of a lack of organization and clarity. Students would ask him questions about something he posted on PolyLearn and he wouldn't know what they were talking about and he never seemed to understand how he was end up doing the grading at the end. He doesn't even hand out a syllabus, just has a online version that's on PolyLearn but it lacks enough information to really call it a syllabus. He assigns multiple group project papers but his prompt is only 1 or 2 sentences and he is very vague about what he expects, which is odd from a professor. For example, he told us our Final would be 50 questions but once he handed it out he was like "whoops, I only printed out half the pages so I guess your final is 25 questions." I don't know, there's a lack of professionalism there in my opinion with him. I would NOT recommend taking this course. It's a waste of time.

Latner is one of those professors that likes to fuck with his students with various mind tricks. Every test except the final had some catch to it. Our midterm was taken individually but he decided that whatever the average score was would be EVERYONE'S grade so if you got an A but the class average was a C, a C was your final grade. It really sucked. Most of time he'd just talk for hours about god knows what and also never ask him a question because he will NEVER answer it.

Don't take this class. He rambles on over and over, no one is paying attention, requires you watch several time consuming videos before class that don't hold any value to the midterm or test. Use your time in something else more valuable

Don't take this class. He rambles on over and over, no one is paying attention, requires you watch several time consuming videos before class that don't hold any value to the midterm or test. Use your time in something else more valuable

If you take this class 100% do the group midterm. It is a piece of cake and almost every single time you will get a better grade than the people who do it alone. We got an 89% on the midterm which helped my grade out a bunch. Latner is a very chill grader and you will get a good grade if you do the assignments. The final is basically comprised of multiple choice questions that you have already gone over in class as well as other easy questions that are a mix of common sense and easy pols vocab. Recommend taking this class, pretty easy to pull out a B.

I was so worried all quarter that I was missing information and that we were going to have a very difficult test at some point. Nope. Turns out you can go to class, not pay attention, be completely lost and still get an A. Dr. Latner is a homie. This class is so easy and you don't even know it until the end. I would for sure take it again. (Also whatever you do, do not do the assigned readings as they will never show up on anything)

This is exactly the difficulty I believe a GE should be at. Latner is very knowledgeable but his lectures are dull as he just recites facts. He is very approachable with questions. Easy class and very important information to know as college aged students reach voting age.

Latner is a cool guy. That being said, he's a terrible teacher. The things he lectures are on are actually interesting but not at all pertinent to the class or the material we're supposed to have covered. Your only grades are participation (which he arbitrarily gives points out -- no real system for this), your essay, a midterm, and a final. If he gives you option to take a group midterm essay, DO IT. There is no way a single person can finish all of the questions he gives in the 2 hour period. The final is hardly study-able and his lecture notes are essentially more than useless. I honestly do not know how I got an A in this class. I'm sure he had a huge curve bc most people probably did terribly on the final.

Rocking in the cradle of tenure.

This class was very pointless. The class was a complete waste of time. It was fine for getting a GE credit fulfilled, but there was truly no benefit to showing up to class. There was lots of writing every class day, 8 questions a week at 500 words per day and honestly, researching on my own and reading some articles taught me more than actually showing up to class did. The lectures served no purpose except to force me to catch up and do other homework. Most classes, rants and answering student questions that would not show up on tests took up a majority of the two hours (i.e. we talked about splitting pies for the last 30 minutes of class during a test heavy week and to be fair, there was a point, but all students got it within the first 3 minutes). There is definitely forced attendance because of tophat submissions (his way of taking attendance) due at a certain time during class, so attendance is mandatory for no real reason. Overall, this class fine if you absolutely need to have this class for a GE, but if you don't need it, stay clear!

I have honestly never had a professor so useless at teaching a subject. We enter class every night and for about 15 minutes he plays loud, un-popular music which he attempts to sometimes talk through. Of course, nobody can hear him over the deafening noise. Then he proceeds to pull up his vague, general PowerPoints and lectures nonstop for about 95 minutes. None of the content is actually helpful, merely random tangents about government that you can't even take notes on because it is SO all over the place. My notebook, as well as those of the people sitting next to me, have arrows and question marks all over the pages because he is incredibly confusing and has no structure to his classes. His voice itself is so boring that I find myself struggling to pay attention after a single sentence spoken. Theoretically, the course is supposed to follow his "skillshares," a set of 4 questions you must answer before every class online after reading a group of articles and/or videos (some individual videos up to an hour and a half long, some readings over 55 pages). These readings and videos often have no connection to the questions being asked and you are forced to rely on your previous knowledge of government or muddle through various google sites to try and put together the whole answer. The whole grade is based on essentially three assignments, a midterm, a final, and in class questions. These assignments' grades are not only graded by him, but by peers who aren't actually qualified to grade anything or even grade fairly. Does this seem fair?? To let a student grade another's assignment when it is worth 20% of a final grade?? His midterm is, quite frankly, complete bullshit. He asks you to create a rubric for a topic he gives to you, but never once covers the answers on it. There are a plethora of aspects you could use to create this rubric but if you do not pick the EXACT 5 aspects he does, your grade is screwed. This course is by far the most pointless, disappointing course I have taken so far at Cal Poly out of 8. Although it seems impossible for me to get an A in this class, my evaluation is far beyond his grading. Professor Latner seems to be a perfectly nice man, but personally I advise he find a new career because he cannot teach.

Amazing professor! My class was from 8-10pm and I still enjoyed it. Three writing assignments, nothing heavy, two of them were group projects. The midterm was kind of scary because it was filling in this chart but we were able to do it with partners. I did it by myself and still got an A. The final was a little tricky because I wasn't familiar with how he does multiple choice but he also gave an extra credit essay question. If you take POLS 112 do it with Latner.

Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can

Latner is a great professor if you like pure discussion. Thats what this class is based on. Read articles that are 30 pgs long size 10 font and discuss them in class for TWO HOURS. The articles are not all that interesting and when no one speaks up along with a mono-tone professor, you start to daze off. Its okay to daze off though because there are no tests. Students must write one page reviews of the articles each week. There are also two papers to write which are combined at the end to be a final paper. And a group presentation during finals week. Pretty chill guy, but the class is kinda sketch.

I noticed, when looking through the comments for Latner, most of them came from people who had taken Pols 112. No matter what, Pols 112 is not a fun class, and I don't think it's Latner in his element teaching-wise. I took him for Pols 316, a class that he says is his favorite to teach, and it was a very good class! The material, while appearing dry in the reading, was really interesting once we got into class discussion. He's very passionate about this field of study and knows a lot about it. I'm sorry if you had a bad experience with him for 112, but he is an excellent teacher when it comes to the upper division poli sci courses!

Latner is a great guy and clearly knows his stuff. The reason I give him a 'B' overall is because, in this particular course, the instructions for the very few assignments that there were, were not very clear and you never knew how you were doing throughout the quarter. The seminar style of the class is good in and of itself, but the subject matter is so nebulous that everything comes off as overgeneralized or inconsequential. That being said, Latner himself is helpful if you regularly seek help and he grades fairly easy on the few assignments that there are, which helps to make up for tehe lack of clear instruction.

Dr. Latner is a nice enough guy but he is incredibly disorganized. It drove me absolutely insane to the point of wishing I hadn't taken the class. For instance, multiple students told me he didn't show up for their final in another class. What?! You're the professor. The material was interesting enough and he seems to know it well. You don't really need to buy the book because he only did one "pop quiz", which counted toward participation. I didn't open the book once all quarter and I wish I hadn't purchased it. He doesn't clearly lay out the requirements for any of the assignments and his grading seems to be somewhat subjective. Go to his office hours and MAKE him explain things better and really lay down the expectations otherwise you'll be left in the dark.

Professor Latner is a very interesting professor. He is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about his subject. He is very helpful, especially in office hours. Yet his assignments are often times very unclear (due date, what is required/expected, etc). Overall, not a bad professor but you have to try very hard to get an A. He grades pretty hard on essays and presentations. Make sure you participate as it factors in heavily to your grade.

Very smart and passionate teacher

Dr. Latners class was not very hard and I did have a good time in his class, I learned a good amount of new material and the discussions were often interesting, he does a good job moderating conversations. My grip with the class is that it is not really that organized, his expectations for assignments is very murky, and not in the type of way that helps you learn and become independent. A lot of the time I didnt really know what I was supposed to be doing and his grading feels pretty arbitrary. The class consists of mostly one big participation project which was pretty fun as you get to pour your own creativity into it. Again though the downside is the papers he has you write during and concluding the project are vague. I did well in the class, I feel most people did. If you have to take the class or want a fairly easy B than I would recommend it, otherwise the class was too disorganized for me to recommend it.

Dr. Latner is one of the nicest professors at Cal Poly. He cares about his students, and is knowledgeable about the subject. The workload is easy (one paper that you work on all quarter, a few small reading responses) and he brings in some interesting video clips. I felt he didn't lecture enough and left too much of the material up to discussion but overall nothing too bad. Take him if you need an easy A and like to discuss the 2008 election.

Great teacher, and great class. However, I took this class for fun, and it ended up being a lot harder than expected. Writing a 10 page lit review, then a 15 page analysis wasn't much fun. Especially when I spent hours(and hours) on them and got 'C's. Best advice, go to his office hours with your papers DAYS before they are due and ask what you need to change.

Dr. Latner is unique in the sense that he understands that cramming for test is unnecessary to get something out of a class. Going to class is very enjoyable because you can truly absorb the material and not be stressed out about what is important to write down. You take what out what you put into his classes. There are no mid terms or tests. There is weekly reading and you must write a one page analysis of what you read. On top of the weekly reading there is one large paper that is related to a group project/presentation at the end of the quarter that counts as your final. I highly recommend taking any class from this man...you truly will enjoy learning..not cramming.

I\'ve had Latner for both 112 and 317 this year and i somehow managed a B+ for both classes. I didn\'t enjoy the subject matter of either class but I liked that 112 wasn\'t at all like high school government since it\'s way more comparative. 317 wasn\'t what i expected either. It\'s not about voting and petitions and all that...like at all. it\'s more abstrace. The paper wasnt very hard but the grading wasn\'t very clear to me. so ask for help i guess. go to office hours. he\'s a nice guy and he tries to help...but that doesnt always lead to actually helping. I\'ll be avoiding him in the future, simply because his teaching didnt match my learning style.

Great guy, very smart. A lot of work though, but hes a pretty easy grader

While I understand some of the criticisms of his teaching style, particularly that it is a bit "free-form" and is somewhat lacking in structure, I really consider Professor Latner to be one of the more intelligent and stimulating POLS Professors in this Department. As a senior, I have taken the majority of them - Williams, Moore, Hurt, Battle, Settle, Leithner, etc. And I should add the caveat that I have really admired and enjoyed all of my POLS Professors here at Cal Poly. But Mr. Latner has a sort of youthful intellectualism and elasticity that is not commonly found in this field, particularly among older Profs. He challenged some of my deeply held beliefs, and ripped apart at least two arguments I threw his way. I admire that. That is what this field is about, in my opinion. Like all academic disciplines, the pursuit of the truth should be considered the ultimate ambition. Professor Latner is not an ideologue, he is a chaser and enforcer of the truth, and as depressing as this sounds, that is a rare quality in our times. I recommend taking this Professor.

I still have not gotten my final grade yet so this is an honest review. Latner is so far one of my favorite teachers at Cal Poly. Every day he would come to class right on time and he would just talk about what he knows about voting rights and representation. We never had any tests, so we never had to take any notes, but just listening to him I was able to learn so much more than I do with other professors. Sometimes the class gets kinda boring, but doesn't every class? We have a few legal brief writing assignments but they are honestly not hard. Also, you have to choose two weeks that you want to read these articles then write up 750 words and present your short essay to the class but again, not hard. For the final project, we had to look at voting data in cities and try to find a city in California that we believe fostered inequalities in the voting system. SUPER INTERESTING!! I never went to office hours, but as long as you go to class I don't think there is any need for office hours. Also, he didn't provide like any instructions for anything so if you don't like teachers like that, this might not be the class for you. Overall though, I recommend taking this class!