Wenzl, Michael  

Poor Wenzl. He must have had a tourtured childhood. He struck me as a bitter, depressed, old Hobbit the first day of class. And now at the end of the quarter, I'm sticking to that first impression. I loved his class because I was able to sleep off my lunch and read most of the Harry Potter books while he prattled on. A poor student am I? Oh no, I have so far gotten 100% on the midterm, an A- on my term paper, and I am quite confident for the final. The thing that was most frustrating about him is that he would assign chapters for us to have read before class, and then would spend most of the class period READING ALOUD TO US the same chapters we had read on our own. He would throw in the occasional Bush/War/Republican/Morality rant and claim that civilization hasn't changed a bit and we are all actually gay... but then he would drone on in a totally monotone voice while reading the text again. What a boring class. He would sometimes ask for an opinion and then tell us we were wrong. It was quite a frustrating class at first, but once I discovered how much I could do INSTEAD of listening to him, I began to enjoy it. Do your homework and then bring something fun to read, or else you'll be drooling into your notebook for two hours.

Let me just say this about Wenzl...literature may not be his forte'. Confusing enough in the textbooks, I had to sit through lectures of nonsensical yapping. Maybe its just me, but romanticism was a little boring of a subject compared to the other Lit classes. For your own warning!

This class is not that tough...if you make the slightet effort. I took it credit/no credit and easily got a B and would have got an A if I did the paper. His tests were hard, but since a lot was opinion he did not grade that hard. Class is optional and there would be days where half the class would walk out at the break and you really feel sorry for him. I loved the class because this teacher didn't care about his apperance and was willing to give you any grade you wanted based on your effort. Would take the class!!!!!!

Maybe I'm just not an english person but Mr. Wenzl made me frustrated everyday I went to class. Probably the only thing that made me smile was his shin-high colored socks he wore with his shorts. haha. Anyways, his midterm isn't that bad if you really review each poem or prose he goes over. Take notes constantly. For his papers, he said they were opinion papers and gave me Cs on both of them basically telling me my opinion was only average. WHAT? There is only two papers, a midterm, and a final so if you like a little work then he's your guy.

I really enjoyed Dr. Wenzl. His class reminds me of a fire-side chat with your favorite relative. His lectures may seem to be veering off subject, but I promise you that if you stick w/ him that everything he says is relavent to the lecture topic. Wenzl taught me a ton about Romantic lit and the Romantic period, but he doesn't shove it down your throat in a dry, boring manner. Instead he lectures w/ finesse, teaching you everything you need to know for the course without the class even realizing it half the time. His tests are extremely fair and give the student every opprotunity to succeed. Worth taking for the sunject of the course and all of the little bonus knowledge you pick up along the way.

Wenzl is an enigma; he often goes on strange tangents that just beg the question: what in the world does this have to do with English? Yet you always walk away from his class knowing that you've learned something, maybe sometimes more about history or current events than the literature itself. His tests are for the most part tolerable for me, but were very hard for some other people in the class. The biggest problem for me is that his questions can be very vague; i wrote a whole essay on an exam, wondering the whole time if i was answering what he considered to be the question: fortunately i got a decent grade, others didn't. One nice thing about the class: no reading quizes! For the core english class there are only two exams and 3 short papers.

Grendel's mother does have a name, and that name is Wenzl. This is a nasty lil' man who apparently does not own a pair of pants. That could be overlooked kindly if his lectures were to make up for it, but they do not. Instead of learning about the literature of the 19th Century, you will learn how Republics are Nazis and how Democrats straddle the middle of the political continuum, how Cal Poly is nothing by a vocational school, and you, merely a vocational school student. For the first time in my career as a student of letters, I have been repulsed by lecture and readings. The workload is easy: the knowledge you walk away with will reflect both that workload and the man who assigned it.

It is very difficult to take a person seriously and respect him when he dresses like it

Old man Wenzl is one of Cal Poly's finest professors. I think it's safe to say that his lectures simply went over the heads of the last two evaluators. After all, these are the calibre of student writing things like "Republics are Nazis," and "Cal Poly is nothing by a vocational school." Like the old saying goes, never take advice from a fool, or an English major who can't write. In any case, Dr. Wenzl stimulates the sensitive student to think critically and profoundly not only about important works of literature, but also about the world we live in. For those unable to see how these things are related and are worth discussing, maybe a vocational school is the place for you; I've heard they're doing great things at ITT Tech. In conclusion, Dr. Wenzl is an effective and passionate professor who knows his stuff; if you're too dull to follow his thought, or envy his sartorial style, don't blame him. Just look in the mirror and repeat "I am lame," until a calming wave of acceptance and understanding flows through you.

Wenzl is hilarious, I loved this guy. His lectures do go off tangest at times, but I prefer professors who do that. It keeps the lectures interesting and he relates it to real life. He teaches you everything you need to know for the tests in the lectures. The key is to show up every day and take good notes. A lot of people may get offended by things he says, but people like that need to lighten up and enjoy his dark sense of humor and ability to keep you constantly alert in class. His lectures are definitely interesting, and Wenzl is a good professor and a good guy.

Wenzl, Wenzl, Wenzl. This man has been teaching for 38 years, and I say that is enough! I was there when he called Cal Poly nothing but a vocational school. If this is a vocational school, why has he been teaching here for 38 years? Why work somewhere for that long when you despise it? The only answer I can offer is this: so you can torture your students with boring, irrelevant lectures. So despite the typos in the previously ratings (cleverly caught, I might add, by our resident Wenzl-loving grammarian), the message is true. Avoid this man at all costs, unless you too believe Utopia is real.

I don't want to be mean, but let's put it this way: isn't 38 years teaching long enough? As a person, I'm sure Wenzl is entertaining and nice, but as a teacher he borders on the senile. He scribbles things on the board, and then can't read his own handwriting and doesn't remember what it was supposed to say. He also can't always remember to finish his sentences. His tests are fair enough, although some of his passage identification can be kind of obscure. He lets you write up to about 9 papers, and takes the top grade off two of them, but let me tell you, he is almost impossible to please. I gave up when I finally got a B on two of them. He also doesn't tell you exactly what he didn't like about the paper - on one the only thing he wrote was "don't turn in two at the same time" and gave me a B-. On the others he just wrote that I had an "unfortunate tone". Okay. Unfortunately for you English majors, I don't think anyone else teaches the Romantics core class. So just be prepared, don't worry too much if you miss a class because you aren't missing much, and just be prepared for a very boring 2 hours.

Wenzl, Wenzl, Wenzl. I loved his lectures. It takes a few weeks to figure out what to write down and what not to, but in the end, he is a pretty fair teacher. His tests are a bit difficult, but all the information is what he goes over in class. DON'T MISS CLASS! The books he chose for the course were interesting enough and you can tell he's pretty passionate about all the material. He's into the Romantics and I'm really NOT into the Romantics, but he made this class more than tolerable and for that, I commend him. I don't know if I'd take another class with him, just because I'm not into the Romantics, but I suppose if he were to teach some other subject matter I would, as long as his lectures ran in the same manner.

I'm going to give Wenzl the benefit of the doubt when I say that the things he says probably make sense in his head...but when he says them out loud you can't always understand them. He set up his course by theme rather than by author, but doesn't really talk about the themes. Specifically, he has you read all the longest poems by Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, ignores Blake altogether (ummm...he's a little important don't you think?), and then makes you read Ivanhoe (500 pgs) but says its not a very good novel and Great Expectations (which I believe is from the Victorian Era, not the Romantic Era). He'll spend lots of time explaining general things about romanticism over and over again(not very well and consequently when Hampsey asks you things about romanticism in the following Core he'll get mad because you don't know it) and then start going through poems and suddenly lose interest in his own assignments and move on to something unrelated or stop class. He often gives handouts, but neglects to talk about them, so you're left with little idea of what you're supposed to get out of them. He doesn't give you much direction on the papers and his comments aren't very helpful, but he doesn't offer a better explaination in person. His tests are fair, but you read so many things by Wordsworth that its hard to identify which poem is which, especially since he doesn't seem to care if you read everything or not. Overall, I feel like he's just getting tired of teaching, but he's the only one who teaches this class, so good luck!

Wenzl is one of those professors who grows on you. I had him for two CORE classes in a row: 303 and 304. At first, I thought he was absolutely insane. But as the quarter went on, I realized that I really learned the material. It was my first experience with literary criticism, and he makes his class read a lot of it. But literary criticism is absolutely essential to the study of literature, I eventually realized, and I wondered why other professors don't stress crit. He does love to get off topic during class, but his tangents are interesting. The reading load isn't as heavy as other people have complained, but I have Schwartz currently, so my idea of "heavy load" is skewed. He can recite any poem you read in his class by memory, which is very impressive. The biggest problem I had in his class was his assigned papers. Every Tuesday, he accepts short papers. You need to turn in a minimum of two: the two highest scores are used for your grade. His prompts and questions are highly subjective and are not geared for your growth as a writer. Many people would be excited about writing 2-3 pages based on their opinion, but it doesn't prepare anyone for future CORE classes and literary analysis. His comments on the papers are very vague, ranging from "Not bad," to "You're a good writer, but you should apply yourself more."

ATTENTION CAL POLY STUDENTS-- I write this mainly as a response to some horrible and unsubstantiated critiques of Dr. Wenzl. I believe this man embodies more of what the spirit of English literature gestures at, and in essence, why one might hope to study English, than many other professors. My overall gpa in the English Core program stood at about B level with a low mark from Rummell, (I cannot glean how to earn an "A" from her) and high marks from Wenzl, Schwartz and Clark. I will evaluate Wenzl as I hear he retired but still lectures--IN CASE ANY CREATIVE SOUL MIGHT WISH TO TAKE HIS CLASS. His lectures: riveting, abstract and vivid--the true essence of creative and intelligent thought applied in the context of class. His insight--wise and provocative of further studies, will show glimpses of a future in the arts and "what it means to be an artist," as Hampsey would say. In his class he talked about the American Myth of Adam and how the idea of a new world as depicted in the end of Milton's "Paradise Lost" existed as the framework for the new America's identity. He also talked about the pastoral myth and how in the book "The Machine and the Garden" one can read depictions of Jefferson sitting by a railroad track daydreaming of the ancient pastoral kingdom. Wenzl creates a lot of relationships among opposites or similar idea-- strains of behavior or moods in creative thought. He also sticks to his guns as a true advocate of experiential learning. Sadly, many utilitarian, (me, me, me, job), Cal Poly students lose his words in their python grip of plan-making and preparation for sad quotidian duties. I will say he exists as a mythic, tragic, figure in his relationships to the world of grades. Some people do not do well. I did horribly in Rummell's class and worked very hard. She does not have the reputation as a bad teacher so I don't see why this wellspring of ancient and modern inspiration (Wenzl), should recieve any lower marks. If I could do one thing, as a lover of art, I very well might sit in on a class of Wenzl's in the eternal college. Maybe this chance awaits you at Cal Poly, students of the universe.

If you are looking for a straight forward lecture, I would not recommend Dr. Wenzl. However, if you are genuinly intersted in being challenged rather than dismissed, Dr. Wenzl is the instructor for you. True, I've found that people either love or hate his style, and I personally love it. His emphasis goes beyond the literature and into the nuances of the society from which it is derived from. Abstract, extreamly non linear, and original in practically every thought. His lecture style takes a bit to get use to because his lectures are nothing like the other instructors, took me a good two class periods to get on track. His test are a bit challenging, I'll definatly say that, but they are EXACTLY what English test are suppose to be: argue and defend, the support of your own ideas. His essays are cake, very easy. If you are looking to actually learn rather than trow your instructors own ideas back at them, take Dr. Wenzl. I promise you'll learn more than you ever thought you would.

I love Wenzl. . .despite all his efforts! I had him for two quarters and I have to say that he takes some getting used to. Mostly because you'd never expect to hear the things that come out of his mouth to ever be said by a Cal Poly professor. Which is when I realized that's just his point. He's not all about "going by the book", he's all about giving it to you as it is. He loves to play the devil's advocate, and once you recognize that Wenzl just gets a kick out of being contrary to popular opinion, you'll get a kick out of it too. Just realize that he's playing the part of "the cranky old cynic" and don't take him totally seriously. After two quarters--I really have no clue what the real Michael Wenzl thinks about things. But that's what is great about him. . . he makes YOU think for yourself. His classes aren't hard, but they challenge you to think and to be honest and original. He doesn't want to hear what he thinks, he wants to hear what you think. He has you write 3 "personal insight" papers for the CORE classes, and then you have 1 midterm and 1 final. Both tests are VERY passable if you do the reading and pay attention in class. Yes, his lectures go off topic, but they're hilarious and informative--maybe just not always about literature. I honestly learned more about what's going on in the world in this English class than I did when I took Political Science. He tries to appear rough and gruff, but he's really a sweet guy. You can tell that he loves his wife and daughters when he talks about them, and he is definitely PASSIONATE about his subject. He cares about the students, for sure. . . just give him time to show it, b/c he doesn't want you to know. Heaven forbid people start to like him! =)

If you are EVER having a bad day, sitting in on Dr. Wenzl's class will remedy your pain. This man is a literal genius! His humor surrounds each student and there will not be a class you don't find yourself cracking up at either something he says or something he doesn't say. In my case, Wenzl had me cracking up from the first minute class began. In the midst of calling roll he managed to say my first name...stop...look up...laugh... and then ask if there was a "Stoner" in the room. It was one of those things you had to see to believe, but the whole class was cracking up. And, I, being the true STONERGIRL that I am...did the same. In Wenzl's class you will build knowledge, but also character. I highly recommend him as a professor. If you happen to take him, tell him Stoner says hi! :)

I loved Dr. Wenzl's class. The topic was 18th Century literature, some of which is difficult to read, but Dr. Wenzl made it relevant for me. He's a skilled and knowledgeable lecturer. I enjoyed his enthusaism and his wit. I would have liked more class discussion, but overall, his class has been a highlight for me.

I was an engineering student before Professor Wenzl opened up my eyes to the literature world. This man is probably the sole reason I decided to add english as a major. Although, I double majored in english and engineering, I had a very difficult time not taking Wenzl's advise and pursuing English solely, since he knew I was doing engineering because would offer me a higher paying salary. Nonetheless, Wenzl's lectures were great to say the least, entertaining, and full of humor. I learned a lot about literature from various classes I took with him. I can truly say his lectures made me question everything in life, which is what literature truly is, the process of self discovery. If you love to write and read classics this is the professor to take and don't just show up to his lectures, go to his office hours, you'll find a great man behind those opinions. I still remember reading "Jude the Obscure" during English 334....

Dr. Wenzl would frequently go off-topic in the class, leaving little time for actual lecture. I did not find his lectures helpful, although he gave good handouts. His tests are difficult.