OToole, Fred  

DO NOT BELIEVE THE BABBLING IDIOT ABOVE. Mr. O'Toole is by far the best teacher for phil 125. His teaching style is very straightforward, and the assignments & exams are relatively easy. I really liked him

This guy is the real deal. You can tell he loves to teach. The guy in the first review is a foolio

O'Toole = cool

I must have had a different teacher than the people above. The Fred O'Toole I recieved was late to class (repeatedly), didn't have examples of the material, couldn't clarify the subject matter, and spent more time preaching his own personal views than Philosophy. Our class got through about half of what was on the syllabus, which I guess, was great, because it was easier to study.

He was not clear on any of the subjects that he taught on

I wonder if the people above had the same Dr. O'Toole that I had. His tests are very difficult and meant to trick you instead of testing your knowledge. His lectures are boring and he makes you look stupid in front of the class when you give a wrong answer. I would not recommend taking his class, you are asking for trouble.

(a) he throw's chalk (b) he plays Monty Python (c) he's a damn good skiier...What this has to do with teaching, I don't know. But it makes it a lot easier to relate to him and makes you more interested in paying attention, and what he has to say is presented in a very understandable way.

The guy above took everything I was going to say. But yeah. He throws chalk and plays Monty Python. It doesn't get much better than that. If you just want an easy class, don't take phil 125. Take spc or eng 125. They're supposed to be easier. Basically, the logical garbage that is the subject of these phil 125 classes is just conceptually difficult to grasp. It's not his fault.

The first rating took the words out of my mouth. O'Toole is one of the most boring lecturers(sp?) I've experienced. His tests are foul, he pratically forces you to remember term after term of boring philosophy words for the test. You cannot hope to get a passing grade on a test by just by thinking reasonabally, most of the questions are not straight forward and are to trick you. His lecture is basically composed of repeating exactally what was said in the book "he wrote", which doesn't make much sense at all to beginning critical thinking students. Avoid him at all costs.

Professor O'Toole is a really great instructor. His class is very straight forward. He has everything that he lectures on on the tests. There are two midterms during the 4th and 7th weeks of insruction and a comprehensive final. I didn't find myself reading the book (he wrote his own) at all (only because took notes on everything that he said, which wasn't too difficult). There is a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk that has all your homework assignments. As long as you memorize the concepts steadily through the course, there will not be a problem with you getting above a "B" in the class. Not studying throughout the course was my only problem. Oh! It's NOT a good idea to skip class unless you know someone that takes notes VERY thouroughly.

O'Toole is a poor teacher. It takes him 40 minutes to explain a concept that's two sentences long in his book. Reading his book is very difficult because he has many incomplete sentences, grammatical errors, and incorrect examples. His lectures mostly appeal to Freshman who think he is "cool" because he talks about dope and skiing. If you get stuck taking his class, sit towards the front because O'Toole whispers. His ego barely fits through the door, and he'll give you the run-around before he admits he can't answer your question. Avoid O'Toole.

This guy is a joke. He is a total dick, and an awful professor, I bet that he got onto polyratings and wrote the good evaluations for himself, because in my class NOBODY could stand him. Classes sucked, and AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. HE IS ONE THING< TRUE TO HIS NAME, A TOTAL COMPLETE TOOL

O'toole= fool

This guy has the biggest ego...I got an A, but I would not reccomend this class to ANYONE. He is just a moron, simple as that, AVOID AVOID!

Whoever wrote a positive evaluation about Fred O' Toole on this, obviously had a different Fred O'Toole than me. FUCK THIS ASSHOLE HE IS THE WORST TEACHER! I learned nothing, he is disorganized, we dont even follow the syllabus, he WANTS people to not do well. Just bad, Just real bad.

Yes, Dr O'Toole does throw chalk. Critical Thinking is not a difficult class. Understandably, it does take some work to remember some of the terms and vocabulary. But after that, it is just a matter of thinking. O'Toole specializes in Logic. And he knows how to talk about it. He even had some nice, easy to follow silly steps for people who could not get it otherwise. He also manages to make it interesting by ... anecdoting. Or interjecting humor. Although not the best instructor I have had, I consider him good. Enough to motivate me to take a second class from him.

Granted, this course did not require extensive study time, however, going to lecture is vital. The accompanying text is written by O'Toole himself, and merely gives definitions for terminology. O'Toole is a decent professor, however quite dull. Lectures consisted of repeating the same examples as are already printed in the text, and he does not give enough examples to firmly grasp the concepts. Up until the end of the course, only rote memorization is necessary. FYI: all homework is submitted on disk, run through DOS. If you like running old skool programs and like reading dictionary texts, make sure to take Dr. O'Toole.

I think the best word for this guy is arrogant. He doesn't really care whether you get the material or not, which makes it difficult to learn anything because he wrote the book. He even wears the same outfit every class period- faded black polo shirt and kaki pants (tacky). The homework assignments are easy and helps your grade a lot but the program you use to do them is very out-dated, making the assignments frustrating to follow. If you have a choice, don't take Phil 125, try speech or english. From what I've heard they're a lot easier classes and you may actually learn something valuable. If you get stuck with Phil, don't take O'Toole if you know what's good for you.

At first I thought that this class was way over my head. Looking back on it . .I was probably right. However, you may be surprised to the grade that he gives you as long as you put in the effort. Go and visit him during office hours even if you think there is no way in heck that you would ever understand the material. He is totally understanding and when giving grades . .is more than generous.(if you catch my drift) Show him that you care about the class and your grade and I promise you, you won't regret it. He's a good guy.

This is one of the hardest classes I have taken at Poly thanks to O'Toole. You think you understand the material and then you take the test and fail. His tests are all scantron and all the tests are very tricky. He grades on a curve, but there is always someone in the class who will get a good grade and fuck it up for everyone. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS< TAKE SPC 125 INSTEAD.

He is an interesting person, although he is really hard to listen too and class seems to drag on like no other. He is also really hard to talk to.

I think that this professor did not convey the objectives of the class clearly at all. He goes off on tangents in lecture. And some of the examples he uses in class makes the idea more confusing, instead of clarifying it. Especially in critical thinking, where everything's all logic, I was completely lost because I couldn't understand one idea. I didn't think he was all that approachable in his study hours and the way he explains things wasn't all that helpful to me.

This guy was awesome-one of the best professors that I have encountered at Cal Poly. Originally my class had a different teacher, I forget her name, but after not showing up half the time and teaching us jack, they replaced her with O'toole midway through the quarter. The transition was strange, but I can only imagine how awesome it would have been to have had O'toole for the entire quarter. He makes fun of the text book, so don't even bother buying it. You know this guy knows what he is talking about.

He was a very smart guy. So smart that when most of the kids in my class went to ask him a question they had no idea what he had just said to them when they left his office. He was kinda lazy about the class which turned out to be nice for us in the end but had me worried for a while. He has some of the hardest tests I've ever taken but curves on the second highest score. An ok techer. If I had to do it over I may have taken some else.

Fred OToole is the worst teacher I have ever experienced. He is disorganized, unresponsive, and extremely vauge. He did not follow the sylabus because he didn't manage the assignments properly. He flaked on two office hour meetings i had set up with him. The material we covered in class did not resemble the kinds of problems on the tests. The tests---next to impossible. In fact, after the curve a "D" became an "A." That's how incredibly rediculous they were. He is very rigid and "stand-off-ish." I'm not exactly sure how it worked out that I got an "A" in the class, but the writing assignments were my only hope for a decent grade after the tests. BOTTOM LINE- OTOOLE CAUSED AND EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT OF UNECESSARY ANXIETY AND CONFUSION WITH HIS HORRIBLE TEACHING STYLE. AVOID HIM AND SAVE YOURSELF MANY GRAY HAIRS.

Fred is a great teacher and made the class fun. He was very clear what he wanted and made me a much better writer. You do have to write 12 essays...you have been warned.

You would have to be crazy not to take this class with O'Toole. He is the most laid back professor that I have taken at Poly. He teaches you what you need to know, and understands that we are just there for a grade and that we will forget everything anyway. He is very funny and will make philosophy your favorite class! Take him..take him!

I really enjoyed this class. It was a lot of class discussion and paper writing, but was presented in such a way that made it enjoyable. his test is hard, but it is not worth much of the overall grade. He also knows how to realate to the topics we are covering.

Dr. O'Toole is an amazing professor. He is one of the few who remembers what it's like to be a student and to have other crap going on. He is very friendly and approachable, and encourages discussion in the class each day. This class is mostly made up of writing a bunch of short (1 typed page max) essays. Normally we get a prompt (such as "Money is the key to happiness"), discuss it, take whatever side you want of the argument then write the rough draft in class. A couple people read their rough drafts out loud, then everyone goes home. You type up a final draft and hand it in the next class. VERY little workload involved, just an awesome class to go to and an awesome professor. There might or might not be a 5 page paper assigned as your final project. Take this professor for any class possible.

He was a very interesting and helpful professor... Some of the initial lecture material of the class was slow, but class discussions were strongly encouraged. The class looked like one m/c test, and then an (in-class, revised at home) essay each class. He takes advantage of the philisophy portion of the class and we discuss a LOT in class : )

Very laid back, very funny guy. Gets discussion going, lets you think through things but doesn't try to change your life with a GE class. Definitely take him for any class.

otoole is horrible. dont take him if you can help it. i took phil 126 to fulfill the argumentative writing g.e. because i was too lazy to go to 4 days of english class. ha, this class was not worth it, take engl 145. basically the whole grade is a midterm and an essay. an impossible midterm, and p.s. you HAVE to go to class every day or you lose points and you can never do make up in class essays. and fred is mean to the students, he makes people look retarded in front of everyone. i thought he looked like a nice old man, and than i listened to him for an hour. dont bother.

This is a boring class. In his class you will have to read your unedited essays out loud and then he expects the class to critique the essay. I hated this! Most of the time my class got to write the essays at home, but that is not the way he would like to do it. He wants to talk about the subject, write the essay and then talk about them all in and hour and a half. Most of the time we ended up just writing it at home. He does grade very easily. Most of my essays I never proof read including my term paper. I am not a very strong writer and I still got an -A.

This class is based on four things: one test (given in the first half of the quarter), 6-8 inclass essays, class participation and a 5 page single spaced research paper. The test was killer hard, just as he said it would be, but he let us retake it at the end of the quarter.. which was a pleasant suprise. He's very funny, gives interesting examples. However, he really doesn't care about the class. He always let us out very early, and cancelled class several times. He is a nice man, who means well, but is ready to retire. I'd suggest taking this class. Overall, its not too hard and is fun.

O'Toole was really a great teacher for this course. However, if your shy or afraid of arguing your point, don't bother. Other than that, I definitely recommend 126 with O'Toole. He's very laid back, presents the material very clearly, and is NOT BIASED which is very important for a class like this. He honestly doesn't care what your stance is, as long as you pick one and defend it. I can honestly say this class changed the way I write argumentative/persuasive papers. You will learn to get rid of the "fluff" and win with logic. Some people were a little weary of the peer editing, but just remember, your classmates know that your essay hasn't been proofed, etc... the point is to let everyone benefit from hearing each other strong/weak points. A lot of people complain about the midterm for this class, but honestly it wasn't all that bad. Just know that you will need to study and you will have to be able to recognize the concepts in application.

Pros: You only have to go to the class 2 times a week (1.5 hours a class) which is less than normal, and he lets you out early on top of that. Class was cancelled a couple of times. He really teaches you the importance of logical arguments and how stupid some people in the real world are. Cons: While the syllabus said there would be 8 short essays that made up around 65% of your grade, we only did 6, and did not get feedback until after the 3rd was written. The midterm is rough, especially since you are tested on ideas that you have not applied to your writing yet. Overall: Recommended if you want a chill class, not if you really want to improve your writing.

Let's put it this way...O'Toole is pretty much a tool. He's a very intelligent old man, but he's way past his era...he should have retired long ago. The class doesn't require much effort, however he doesn't follow the syllabus. Every essay is graded on a scale of 1-6, and I got a 5 on every single essay, however he didn't write a single positive or negative comment on any of my papers. So much for learning how to become a better writer. The only reasons I'm not giving him horrible ratings are because he cancelled class a lot, we didn't have to really study, and he let us drop 1 essay...so since I got the same grade on all my essays I didn't even bother to do the last one. If you want to learn, don't take this tool.

This teacher has been my favorite so far at Poly. Not only was his class laid back and relatively easy but he let us out early every day and half the time we just discussed interesting issues rather then writing. The only reason anybody could possibly not like this guy is if they are hard core conservative and cant stand hearing the views from a liberal prof. This man may be older however he is smart and hilarious. If anybody complains about this class it is either because they have a stick up their ass or they are just a horrible writer. If you dont have either of these problems this class will be a breeze. Just make sure you go, he doesn't let you make up essays that you miss and he takes attendance every day.

After looking at Polyratings, I was worried about taking Dr. O'Toole for a class. However, I realize that he is an excellent professor and a logical genius. This guy knows what he is talking about, believe me. I am convinced that the people who rated Dr. O'Toole poorly just didn't enjoy the material of the course or they felt it was too difficult. O'Toole comes highly recommended by me, and if you do take his course, you'll see the wit and the intellect of this man make your experience a learning one.

Professor O'toole took a very complicated subject and taught in the easiest way possible. I highly recommend him. I fail to see why some rate him so horribly. Maybe they just don't get it.

Mr. O'Toole, despite his clearly impressive academic background, was unquestionably one of the most wretched lecturers I've experienced to date at Poly. I certainly wouldn't have minded my "C" grade if I had only been provided (a) sensible grading criteria and (b) any suggestion by O'Toole that he gave a damn beyond the issue of his tenure, sales of his excrutiating writings, and South American ski vacations. Biggest technicolor memory was his response to my question of one paper's mediocre grade: "I DON'T CARE HOW MANY CALORIES YOU EXPENDED..." This is the kind of contemptible arrogance that gives me acute indigestion every time I remember Mr. O'Toole. Recommendation: If possible, AVOID PROFESSOR FRED HUBRIS AT ALL COSTS.

Prof cried today.... What a weirdo hahahah get a grip of your life.