Cocky. Very anal. Very disorganized. Tests are weird. Makes students take online timed quizzes from home. Never grades anything on time.

Very hard teacher, very cocky and rude. Doesn't let students have their own opinions. Makes everyone read together before lab can be started making us lose time. Always collects Lab reports at end of every class because he thinks everyone loses their pape

BOOOOOOOOOOO!

Unless you want to be an astonaut and fly to the moon DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! He overwhelms you with homework and will scold you at any point he can like you are in elementary school. Don't chew gum in his class either. He'll kick you out.

DO NOT take this class at West Valley. Take it over at Mission College in Santa Clara instead. West Valley & Mission work together. This class is so much more fun & clear over at Mission. Check out Mission College for Astronomy.You wont regret it.

Worst teacher I ever had. Way too much work, way too little time. He forgets his students have other classes to concentrate in. Very anal and picky about the class. DON'T TAKE IT!

This teacher is HORRIBLE! I usually like all my teachers but Mendelson was the worse ever. he's so condesending which discourages class participation. he's egotistical and a total jerk.

Worst class ever! This guy is so disrespectful to his students and gives way too much work. I like the topic of the class but he ruined it. He needs to stop teaching

OMG! It's a freaking one unit class! He expects us to do all this work. He also leaves class ALOT and then comes back and complains about how we're behind! Hello! Where were you when we needed help to move on?! Don't take him!

No Comments

i do not recommend anyone taking this "professor", he is condescending and shows no respect for students.

No Comments

I disliked his class very much. Teacher wasn't kind at all. Wish I could say bad words because that is how most of his students feel about him. Do not recommend it at all!!!!!

This guy is a hypocritical jerk who will never give u the correct answer to anything if u ask b/c it is his belief you should figure it out yourself. I HATE HIM!!!

this teacher sucks! i've been an astronomer since i was 3 years old, i knew all the stuff he taught, but somehow i sill had trouble in his class. he's cocky, rude, and will never admit he's wrong. his tests have nothing to do with what he teaches in class or assigns for the reading. he's the kind of guy you want to punch in the face. he's that rude

Terrible teacher. Uses an online system for hmwrk and quizzes that many people had trouble with, he was not understanding of this. Unhelpful, condescending individual. Most of class dropped, started out with full class, ended up with VERY small class. Dropped his class toward end of semester b/c he was being unfair in regards to a large project.

he is extemely anal about somethings. he will never tell you if you are right or wrong on a problem. he uses this "clicker" thing for tests and it is annoying. he is a nice guy but he has his bad days and moments. he gives NO extra credit whatsoever. the class was really hard for me, because most of your grade is your tests.

No Comments

this dude SUCKS. He's mean and so full of himself. i've been doing astronomy since i was a kid.. and still barely passed his class cause he's so full of himself. he has been heard boasting about how NOBODY gets an A in his class. major ****

HORRIBLE teacher! I have a 4.0 GPA and i was failing his class. he so so rude, is never in his office, is extremely full of himself. the average grade in our class was a D! you can never contact him; he gives you appointments and never shows up. extremely condescending and degrading toward students and puts people down. lectures are useless as well

the worst teacher i have ever had! seriously. i dont know why he teaches...wait he doesnt. i would not wish this class upon anyone. does not stick to book, late on many occasions including test days, very unorganized, tests do not pertain to text/lecture, many pointless hw ASSignments, not approachable. hates people..loves outter space. horrible!

Benjamin is such a HARD and TERRIBLE instructor and doesn't seem to really care that his class is now very small. His expensive clickers are annoying and useless...he's esentially having you spend more money on such an unproductive class...very disorganized...not helpful at all...doesn't care about his students...PLEASE DO NOT TAKE HIM AT ALL!!

I'm glad to see other people hated this guy as much as I did. He is a complete jerk who is impossible to deal with. He treats students like it is Jr. High - like throwing people out of class for chewing gum!! You are also forced to buy "clickers" to type in your test answers to a computer grading system. The clickers are impossible to use! AWFUL.

Not a nice person. Rude. Extremely condescending. You must buy a 45 dollar "clicker" to take his tests. What the @#% is wrong with the scantron? Not a good teacher and the class average for most tests was a D-. Stay away from this guy like he is the plague.

personal advice: just dont...complete jack****. degrading...bad bad bad bad teacher...dont say i didint tell you so...so good luck

this guy doesnt know what he is talking about. he is so into himself and he is rude. doesnt like being asked questions because he doesnt know enough to answer them.

um...yeah i have a 4.0 GPA and i am a science major and he was the only teacher that had issues with me and the only teacher who i did not like so it actually was that bad

why is he a teacher??? he hates students...cocky and rude! stay away from his classes...

I can vouch for the other's negativity on this fellow. He did come off extremely cocky and and rude at times. He never answered student's questions directly and always danced around it. He kicked three students out in two weeks for chewing gum/bringing WATER to class. Very difficult teacher. Avoid at all costs. I dropped his class mid semester.

Had an A on my transcript, and then he changed it to a C. He's rude, condescending, and a complete jerk. People who have perfect GPAs end up getting wrecked in his class. Only bright side to him is that on SOME RARE occasions, he is actually helpful and decent. Most of the time? NOT.

This teacher is extremely rude and condescending! I dropped the class midway through the semester because I couldn't stand him! He may know a lot about astronomy but he makes no attempt to try to help ANYONE ELSE learn about astronomy. He is unapproachable because he treats everyone as if they are idiots. I would avoid him at all costs if possible!

This teacher does not even follow the text. Creates his own way of teaching. Expects you to know everything he says in lecture. If you don't remember, you dead in the river. His tests will based on lectures, period! Tosses your lowest scores, but else it is your own. Hard on time, and everything. If you Don't want to fail, don't take him.

I am not sure I would ad the term Professor before his name. Unorganized, Unresponssive, gives a lot of work and a B is 80% - that speaks to the level of compitence and self awareness this individual posseses. A lot of homework and very little help. This was a negative experience all around.

Disorganized, always late, constantly disrespectsbelittles students. I saw him reduce one student almost to tears. Expects you to know everything and does not allow technology in his class. Only thing I learned is that when RMP gives a guy a 2.2, DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS. Gives unrelated homeworktests. Would rather not graduate than take him again.

This is by far the WORST professor at West Valley. First off, he is not helpful, he belittles students and makes you feel stupid. His lectures are not helpful, because he gets off subject for a long period of time. He is rude and unhelpful during his office hours. He says he wants you to pass the class, but he has a funny way of showing it.

Avoid this teacher at all costs. He's arrogant, and entitled, belittles students, and is sarcastic. I witnessed him make fun of a student's beliefs in class and made the class laugh at him. Homework is hard and there's a lot of it. Unless astronomy is your passion, you wont enjoy this class.

He grades are based on incredibly difficult tests and one homework assignment wich is unknowgly 20% of your grade you will only be talking about life in the universe for the last 2 weeks of class. The rest of the time very quickly going over biology chemistry and physics. He didn't assine our textbook until half way through the course. Do not take!

Hands down the worst teacher I have ever taken. I am a straight A student with a 3.7 GPA and I had to fight to get a B. He's rude, unorganized, and late but yet expects the utmost respect. Assignments extremely hard and have nothing to do with astronomy, you hardly spend any time on astro. Tests make no sense. DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER.

Lectures heavy, tough grader,old school. Professor can accidentally sound harsh or rude to students. Not one to get along with easily. Although he lectures well, his grading policy is tough. Received B for a missing assignment that was not graded properly online. Keep track of submitted homework so the same does not happen to you.

Terrible professor, wont grade an assignment if one page is out of order, he makes it impossible to do his class and has a lot of the work barely accessible. Do not take him whatever you do steer clear.

He sucks at explaining how his assignments should be completed. Points are not given based on the amount of the effort you put into the discussion. If you forget to respond to someone on a discussion, that is already half your points gone. He also is so specific on submitting assignments the way he wants it, and leaves no room for mistakes.

Beware! Avoid at all costs. Some profs inspire you to love to learn; Benjamin leaves you frustrated, bemused, and despondent. Has no empathy for assignments, does not care about your extenuating circumstances, will give you a Zero for one tiny "mistake" as simple as using bullet points instead of numbered bullet points. Does not explain material.

HA HA. The biggest joke. It's rather funny how uninspiring he is. Does not adequately teach anything. Very pedantic, do not ask questions because he gets very defensive and will guilt trip you for no reason. He will not answer your questions, will not email you back, will not listen to your concerns, will not help. I wish I enjoyed it--worst class.

Atrocious. Learning is inaccessible. Resources are dated. Will give you no credit for labs and assignments if one thing is out of order. I emailed him 6 times, never once did he reply. Does not care about anyone's varied accessibility to wifi/learning resources/materials. Due dates can be changed the day of without notice. Very rude and apathetic.

Participation and effort does not count for much as youre graded off a badge system which is very inconsistent and confusing. Class often leaves most students lost & bemused, and the prof- is extremely difficult to have any interaction with. Overperfection is expected. Can easily become your most frustrating class. Proceed with extreme caution.

This guy... Oh boy, where to start? Ever have a teacher that hates it when students figure out something on their own? He actively shuts down students who come to realizations in his class. For a class that is basically "stare at the stars", he expects a lot of studying and work. Only benefit: His grade scale. 80% is an A.

He was extremely rude and lacked empathy, but expected respect when it goes both ways. While I got a good grade in his class, I was belittled and made to feel like an awful student. If this was in person I would have dropped. Unsupportive and tries to guilt trip you for his miscommunications. Assignments lack thorough instructions.

Students must combine multiple files into one PDF to submit on Canvas or you get a zero, which is time consuming and few services do this for free so he can save 2 seconds in grading. He uses materials from places like ASU (HabWorlds), so I must check multiple places for daily assignments. He bans AI, his feedback on hw is 100% AI (zeroGPT confims)

Very rude! Don't miss a class ever, you really won't be able to make up anything if you do. I had a "hybrid" format but the integration and communication for every assignment was poorly done. Any email I sent would receive a passive aggressive response.

At first, his lectures were interesting and well-paced. But later, he began assigning 8 assignments at a time, all due the following week, on top of labs and lengthy videos. This class is too much and strays too far from stars. His attitude is snarky and passive-aggressive. Most students dropped before midterms—choose another professor if you can.

Mendelsohn should be studied as a case-study on how not to teach an aviation class. His class is built on boring recorded lectures, unclear assignments, petty grading, disorganized and error filled quizzes, and condescending messages to students. He also takes forever to respond. His entire class (which he teaches as a hobby) should be scrapped.

Don't do it.