2.5
Quality2.5
Difficulty41%
Would Retake107
Reviews41%
Would Retake
107
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
12
4
19
3
24
2
21
1
31
What Students Say
“Proff Nutting seems like a nice guy but his teaching style is awful”
PHIL445 - 3.0 rating“The reading is dry and no one seemed to do it but it didn't keep people from passing the class”
PHIL369 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
82%
Textbook Required
74%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
GPS375
5.0
(2)SXS569
4.3
(4)GPS
4.0
(1)PHIL115
4.0
(1)IR315
4.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
GLOBALPEACE
5.0
SXS369
5.0
445
4.0
PHIL380
3.3
PHIL445
3.2
Reviews (107)
No Comments
Never emails back, never grades papers, no progress reporting, nothing. Vague lectures, unclear assignments. He wasn't even going to give a syllabus until we made him. Obviously spends no time thinking about his classes outside of school.
Gave no feedback and does not return papers before others are due. Did not get one paper back all semester. Papers were our only grade to go by, and we never knew what our grades were.
really bad teacher. please, spare yourself and don't take his classes. he allows really dumb discussions to go on without facilitation because he doesn't take the time to prepare lessons. doesn't return papers, assignments are vague, i could go on and on...
just doesnt seem to care
Nutting is terrible. He is the type of teacher that will lose all your work and fail you because he is inadequate. Then he will not make himself available for a response. Nutting taught my last class at sfsu and it took me a year to get my proper grade due to his apparent lack of responsibility. Not only is his global peace class lame, it is also saturated with his liberal, " feel good" rhetoric. Stay away if at all possible, far, far away.
I don't know what's going on. A lot of people don't like him, but I think he's great. Yes he's disorganized, a little frazzled and a bit unclear--he's a philosophy professor! If anything else, take his class for the readings.
What the hell is he talking about? No! Seriously! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!!?? Didn't go to half his classes, didn't know anything about the subject, BS'd my exams and got a B... :/
Do not let yourself get into class. Lectures are always off topic and are hard to string together
He's very tricky with the attendance sheet - sometimes early in class - sometimes late - sometimes he passes around 2 attendance sheets. Also, you don't have to read the books, there are no tests or quizzes in any way related to them. Also, He doesn't grade the final paper. However, if you show up and write the papers, you get an A.
I'm still talking this class this semester but i have to say i like it. It is an easy class and since it is required he is a good teacher to take the class with. There is no final as long as you do well on the quizzes.
I never read any of the novels I bought for the class. You do need them for papers. Class is boring and tedious. Teacher is nice, a bit un-organized. All you do is write papers which he gives CLEAR AND EASY directions for. 3 hour class and only gave one 10 min. break and never let us out early. Kinda annoying. Was easy though.
had him spring 2006. boring lectures which are kinda confusing. he'll go over things if asked. but does obviously get frustrated and seems upset if he explains it once more and people don't understand. hw is graded by effort. final was optional.
Funny guy. His lectures are pretty easy to follow. His quizzes are short and are not hard to understand. You don't have to do too much reading and the homework assignments are very short. The best part is that the final exam is optional to take.
Great at getting class involved in discussion - he is interested in teaching subject matter and not in the politics of school.
Discussions are broad & cover what ever might or might not pertain to the topics of the reading. He is thorough with getting the point across about the book. Class discussion is encouraged. His grading is SUPER easy. Just formulate a thought and all else is easy. He is very democratic, so if you don't agree with ANYTHING, just suggest to change it.
he's an entertaining guy and makes clever jokes, but the subject matter of the class is very dull. his sense of humor almost makes up for it. almost. the class is very repetitive (in class group work and a weekly quiz) and gets very boring very fast.
Rambles about nothing. Very monotonous. Very Boring.
Good Teacher. Knows his stuff. The material is what makes it boring, but he is a good teacher and will give you help
He makes jokes, is relatively witty and quite liberal. Anything you read from the text will be reviewed on the day you turn in your homework and also the day of the quiz. It's a routine class and it's very simplistic as long as you pay attention. I honestly haven't used the book; I've just listened to him. He can get monotonous, though.
Nutting is a good guy. I dont know if he owns anything else but turtle necks and pull-over sweaters, but he gets the class involved in discussions and assigns no physical homework except 3 short term papers and a 10 pg final paper.
I totally loved this teacher. He is smart and you can tell and he also cracked me up (but im not sure he knew).. hes very quirky. Its not a difficult class either but you learn a lot. Buy the books as you go, youd be suprised how many you wont need to read. (Peace Studies)
Pretty Boring and useless class. Nutting tries to cheer up the class with his "jokes", which isn't bad. He also gives out weekly quizes, I didn't do so well on these and I didn't have to take a final for his class, which isn't mandatory. We used the Critical Thinking book alot for homework but the last book we didn't use at all. i suggest you don't
Prof. Nutting's class is a lot of fun if you're into politics. He will often make references to current events so make sure that you read the paper. He grades pretty easily and takes time to write a lot of comments on papers. He's scattered though. We never got back the second paper we wrote for him. Attendance was rarely taken.
3 hour long, BORING class. The only thing I looked forward to (besides the end of the class) were the documentaries. Disorganized teacher with uninspiring essay assignments that he makes up on the spot. I was looking forward to this class and was really dissappointed.
His class is awful. It was supposed to be a political philosophy class, but his obsession with letting people participate meant we usually ended up talking about clothes or someone's grandmother instead. His arguments are weak and I'm not sure he understands the books he assigns, of which we read half. A waste of time.
He is an alright teacher. He is one of those teachers that you learn something from just by listening. You dont really need to read any of the books to succeed in this class. But you are here to get an education so you might as well learn something. You could easily go through this class without learning anything so yeah. The choice is yours!
helpful and knowledgeable and witty.
Truly awful professor. Only had him for half a semester because the regular professor was on paternity leave. He's extremely close-minded--not a good characteristic for a philosophy professor. Got angry at least twice when students (with perfectly legitimate objections) diagreed with him.
He is soooo boring!!!!!! first, he made us to buy books (from some special seller he invited) for more than 100 $. Than he didn't give any homework and at the and of the semester he assigned a 10 pages philosophic paper based on at least 3 of those books (none of us ever read). I don't know how he is going to grade based only on one final paper an
its an okay class. interesting topic. what made it bad is the students in the class who always had a bone to pick with everything. No need to buy the books. We only had 1 essay, no quizzes/tests, and 1 final project for the semester.
"There are everyday statements that people make, that are stupid." I was a freshman at SFSU in 2001, and it was one of the dumbest things I'd heard that year.
one word. BORING. i don't think i got anything out of the lectures at all. the classes seem unplanned and random. i get the feeling that he has no idea what he's saying. he doesn't know how to stop student discussions and lets it digress. hardly gives any useful info. don't take this class if you've never taken philo. he gives it a bad name.
Where to start. Although the grades have not come in yet i have to say that this class was irritating. I am so so glad I did not buy the $100 worth of books because that would have been a waste. Two papers one not given until over two months in and ever returned with a grade. Final paper was given and had to bs 8 pages. Lectures boring. Ask hi
OMG most boring class of my life. it was disappointing because it could have easily been an interesting class if the teacher had actually planned the overall direction of the class more clearly. no need to buy the books, just pay somewhat attention in class, take some notes. regularly hands out a role sheet. 2 papers, no tests. overall a very easy
Took his Sex and the Law course. VERY BORING. He does have moments when he is funny. Don't make the same mistake I did and buy all the text books all at once; they were useless. Very easy grader.
This class should be called gender and law or discrimination and law, NOT sex and the law. Had little to nothing to do with sex (was taking to learn about sex crimes, fooled me) No tests, takes attendance every day, don't waste money on books. More focus on legal writing and procedure. Majority of grade weighted on group project/mock trial. yuck
I don't know what everyone is complaining about. I love the class. If you dont like discussions than dont enroll. His lectures are interactive with students so discussions can run long but I prefer that than a boring lecture! Hes funny too! I say go for it. I got an A-
He's a nice guy, possibly very uninterested in teaching or very interested in what people have to say. Either way, the class is a breeze if you show up and write your few papers. Just hope you don't get stuck in a class with morons who love to hear themselves talk. He will let them.
Professor Nutting is great. Strong lecturer and very helpful if you ask.
This class is VERY straight forward. If you come to class and do the one problem a week he assigns, you'll do well on the short weekly quiz. That's your grade if you decide not to take the OPTIONAL final. He also drops a few quizzes and doesn't penalize for late homework which is always awesome. I got an A :)
He's a nutcase, and I should have known by his name. However his class is a piece of cake. There are weekly quizes, but you go over the material in class before the test so theyre pretty easy. You get full credit for the homework for just attempting it and the final is optional. He tries to be a good teacher.
So, Nutting is fine. We never got papers back, and it's a lot of reading. But he's relaxed. Also, he likes to get feedback. I just tried to say a couple things every class. All and all easy.
He is pretty easy (although you'll sweat it because he never gives papers back and that's all the grade is based on) but easily the worst class I've ever taken at SFSU in terms of what I learned, which was nothing. And it's mind-numbingly boring.
Worst teacher I have ever had at state. I did not buy the books knowing that we would not use them. Never read anything except when we had to write a paper. Had one paper we turned in in October, never got it back and then assigns a ten page paper or two five page papers two weeks before finals. Unorganized and had the class teach the class.
I found that the only people who thought Nutting's classes were interesting and philosophically intriguing were people who had never attended a really good philosophy class. He never gave back the ONLY assignment given, and therefore the class was left clueless when he assigned a final as to how he graded. This means he makes two papers essential
WORST CLASS & TEACHER EVER. Didn't learn a thing and I really mean that. Doesn't respect students opinions. Most unorganized teacher ever. Gives no feedback. Had one assignment the whole semester never got back. 2nd assignment assigned 2 weeks before finals. Don't take him literally one of the worst classes I have ever taken at SFSU
he's an idoit. he's a nutcase. i have no idea what i learned in that class. all you do is sit and talk and listen
Great professor. He very much wants to start a conversation and keep students engaged, sadly if the class is asleep and not responding to him then he will slow down the pace of teaching hoping someone will jump in. Great personality and very funny. He's an easy grader, but he does count class participation so you do need to speak up in class.
Very easy. But don't expect to learn anything, and pray you don't have any loudmouths in your class, cause he'll let them talk the WHOLE TIME.
Just like everyone else mentioned, he is quite unorganized. He likes to get into "debates" with students but it just comes off as being unaccepting of other's opinions. The entire class will be bantering back and forth and never getting a sense of what he believes the "right" answer is, although he's very quick to point out where students are wrong. All that said, the class is very easy and he grades leniently, but you won't actually learn much of anything.
This is the easiest class you will ever take in your life! But this class is VERY boring, its so easy to fall asleep in between the Plato and Socrates lectures. He makes you buy like 8 books (which you don't even need to read). If you're a plsi major, its probably useful to take, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend.
Very disorganized, never gives papers back, you just have to "guess" your performance in this class because he won't communicate very well with students, class is extremely boring (I'm an A student so you can take my word)
Class was easy but it can be boring if you're not paying attention. Nutting lectures the entire time so pay attention and take good notes. It is interesting if you're actually paying attention. Class consisted of short in class essays (some paired up with a classmate), one take home essay as a midterm and a mock trial. Attendance mandatory.
Requires a lot of books in the syllabus but they are not necessary, you can pass the class easily without them. Extremely easy grader but really boring class. Loves participation!
have for 2 classes, Phil455/375. tells you to buy 5 books (for each class), most of which he has not even assigned us to read. Syllabus reading schedule & the reading assignments he post on ilearn almost NEVER match up, leaving you wondering if you're doing the correct reading. if he doesn't like/agree with what you have to say he starts ignoring u
ilearn readings he post,& the syllabus reading schedule NEVER match up. starts ignoring you if he doesnt agree/like what your opinions are. doesn't give back papers. never updates ilearn until a day or two before the class, giving a VERY short time to do the very long readings, makes it VERY difficult if you have other classes.HORRIBLE, DONT TAKE!!
This is what philosophy classes should be like. He encourages discussion and has weekly quizzes that do not require the reading. It gets very boring and annoying when people mind barf. This class can easily turn into a therapy session, and he doesn't do much about it except saying, "thanks for sharing" laid back class. will take again
He is a nice teacher, but class is very boring. He wants you to have 4 books but we only covered 2 of them. He is not big on lecturing he expects the class to talk...personally i would not recommend the class if you want to learn something.
Boring, especially in a 2 hour 45 minute night class.
Very boring class. Quiz every week but he reviews what will be on it before the quiz. But overall an alright teacher.
OMG such a boring class but the easiest A i've ever received. Go to class, try on the quizzes and do your homework, that's it. He drops the 3 lowest quizzes and there is no midterm or mandatory final! He's super nice.
I found him to be a very pleasant and intelligent individual. Seems like a cool guy to go out for a drink with. Philosophy classes tend to be better in smaller classes JUST SAYING. And most of his classes are large. That's no fault of the professor or the students.
What they say is true. He's a nut. Makes you buy 20 books and you don't read a single one. He tells students they are wrong. He argues at any chance he gets. And this isn't friendly debating. I know the difference and welcome a healthy debate. Go to his class, sleep every day, then write around 3 short papers.
He loves to talk and compose fantastic phrases to make himself feel better. That is what it seems anyways. He welcomes discussion but will berate you if you have a difference of opinion. I never dread going to class and never have. However, tuesday nights with Nutting in political philosophy are just dreadful. If you have the option, dont take him.
Nice man, poor teacher. 2 weeks of class left and he has not returned ANY assignent. The class is not structured. people talk about anything and everything on o topic. If you need structure and feedback, this is not the guy for you. If you want free-form discussion without any boundries and are not concerned w/your grade, take him - he is smart.
Proff Nutting seems like a nice guy but his teaching style is awful. No clear train of thought, rambles on about god knows what for 2 hours and NEVER handed back a single assignment. Its an easy A you can tune out his mind numbing lectures, and complete his daily writing assignment
He's a good person in general but teacher? His lectures ARE REALLY TOUGH to get through. I drank coffee because the first 3 weeks I was falling asleep. He doesn't have any form of lecture and does rely on the students too much for the class to flow (people don't talk when they're sleeping) never bought a book. did all the writings still got an A.
It's a philosophy class people!!! Derives from people sitting around and talking about social topics! All that was missing was a good bottle of wine. Overall, great class, interesting topics. Maybe best for grad students who appreciate a less structured teaching style! I've taken his sex and law course a well..
The class debates are fun to listen too
YUCK. Dreaded coming to this class every week. Plus he takes role at the end of every class. Classes were boring and you had no idea how to prep for them as he did not stick to the syllabus. Had us buy about 6 different books - didn't need one. Big final that he doesn't spend enough time prepping the class for. Would not recommend.
Okay, of course you're supposed to sit around and talk in a philosophy class. But come on, this guy sits there and tells every student their ideas are wrong, then never suggests a "right" answer!!! He's a NUT for sure. I don't know if this is a required course or what, I took it for Segment III, but just find something more interesting like SXS400.
Very disappointed in his lack of organization and for not giving feedback on our assignments.Class has great potential for covering important content, Nutting just can't carry it off. He needs to take a pedagogy class.
Great Professor. His TA student is very helpful
You will be talked at for 3 hours with no visual aids. Stay til the end because h takes attendance the last few minutes of class.
His lectures seem to drag on forever, he doesn't use any visual aides and there is very little structure to his class discussions so people just argue with each other for 3 hours. The reading is dry and no one seemed to do it but it didn't keep people from passing the class. If you show up to class and can write philosophy papers well you're fine.
I would NOT recommend this class for non philosophy majors/minors. If you are just wanting to complete your GEDs freshman/transfer LOOK ELSEWHERE SAVE YOURSELF. No sense of direction in his lectures and no instructions on assignment formats, so if you're not a PHIL major/minor you will suffer.
A very helpful and intelligent professor. He IS structured, if you pay attention. His classes follow an order that makes sense if you see the bigger picture. His knowledge stretches far beyond the subject at matter. He lets the students finish their thoughts and asks relevant and developing follow-ups.
Kurt's class is pretty horrible. He does not give you any information about your grade, it is the end of the semester and we still are yet to receive our midterm back. He gives unclear directions and assumes that we know what he is thinking and worst of all he is very abrasive, often chastising you if you ask a question that he feels is misguided.
Professor Nutting is an intelligent guy, and he goes over material that is relevant and important in the world today. You may feel like his grading scale may be unclear, but if you need to attend class, do the work and put in the effort, you will do just fine. There is a ton of group work, a few short quizzes, and a lot of extra credit given.
Easy A! BEST PROFESSOR!
Semester isn't even over and felt like I should warn others. Seems like a smart and funny teacher but really does expect the students to lead discussion. Listening to students argue about morals and laws is the best part. Takes attendance at the end of class, sometimes. All assignments were unclear. Crossing my fingerprints I pass. Just google it!
BORING and must attend class. It was an easy A, but at the cost of being bored out of my mind. The moot court (group project) was the only thing I liked about the class.
He expects you to have a functional prospectus for your term paper in week 3, an annotated bib by week 7 (just as we finish reading #1) all for a term paper thats not due till the last day of class. Additionally he never discusses due dates, his lectures are opinion heavy and mind numbingly boring.
He would talk for a long period of time and it was so boring. I would never take a class by him again because he is not clear on anything. I took his class from 7-9:45 pm and it was absolutely horrible. He would continue to talk nonstop and not encourage students
Dry sense of humor. If you engage in the lectures you will get so much out of it but if you sit there and wait for 2.75 hours to go by you will hate your life. He gives you the answers to any quiz immediately before you take the quiz. He summarizes readings and does not expect you to be an expert on them walking into class.
The professor himself is not bad, he knows his material I just don't think he is the best at delivering it to his students. The class and lecture are OK. I don't recommend taking this class to fill and UD requirement, the description sounded interesting but I dreaded going to this class.
Professor Nutting is extremely knowledgeable of the material he teaches. You can tell he enjoys teaching philosophy and is open to hearing to students opinions. I've taken him for two classes 455, and 380. Show up to class, do the work, participate, and you will do great.
He talked so much. Didn't seem to care whether we even grasped the material. He's a nice prof. He offers several extra credit assignments and a few in-class short-answer assignments. In the end, I got an A but I can't recall any of the material.
In class he'd silence the female students or interrupt them and would let the male students talk for longer. Although there wasn't much work, the work that we did have he never graded or gave us help if we had questions. He'd belittle our class and gave 2 big papers but refused to tell us how to do the papers or what he wanted. Would not recommend.
I found Dr. Nutting to be a respectful person. There is a lot of homework assigned, although he only lectured on a few subjects in my class. In my experience, if you showed up to class and did the written assignments, you did well grade-wise. The material is interesting if you put in the time to understand it.
While Kurt seems interesting, his lectures are slow and not at all what I expected "Sex and the Law" to be about. He doesn't grade anything (we are in finals week currently and I don't know what my course grade is) and won't tell you how you're doing if you ask. He also doesn't give clear instructions, and only explains papers AFTER they are due.
I hated this class with a passion. You get put into breakout rooms & have to complete work sheets as a group for participation. If you don't go, you have to complete a out of class forum post. That being said participation is about 45% of your grade & the final paper is also 40%. He also does not grade ONE thing throughout the entire semester.
Do not take this professor ! He does not grade things or respond to emails. Avoid at allll costs
Professor Nuttings heart is in the right place, some of these reviews are overly scathing of him. His remote class is chill, he lets the students discuss most of the time. You can do an iLearn forum if you dont want to talk. One 8-page paper which counts for most of the grade. Lots of lengthy readings but you only have to read a few to get an A.
Kurt rambles for the full 3 hours of this course, won't tell you your grades (let alone post them) and will leave you completely in the dark. He sought after my help with small things (me, a student.) that he should be doing on his own. I was also one of the few students that actually participated in class. And he still only gave me a C.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. He makes you do a lot of group work, doesn't explain his vague assignments yet grades hard as hell, and in our class he had some girl (not even a TA) doing all his organizational work. He does not use iLearn OR respond to emails. Nobody knew what their grades were all semester until report cards were posted even if you asked him
This professor gives out so much work and you have to read basically a book every day with the amount of reading , half the time the assignments don't make sense and when you ask a question he's so passive aggressive about it.
Literally avoid at all costs he makes you do so much work. His final essay is literally the hardest thing to do with little to no guidance.
Prof Nuttings class was fun and I enjoyed it. The final paper wasnt that bad because he gave us the tools to prepare for it and even held a zoom meeting for us to hear a librarian from the school discuss reliable sources. Overall, I would definitely take his class again.
Amazing and very knowledgeable. Good class lecture/conversation about the Topic. A tough subject so reading is recommended. I do not agree with the other Post. The easiest 'A' I got while learning a lot. He is good.
This professor does not show your grades as the class if going, leaving you in the dark for your final grade. The grade is based only on participation, a midterm paper, and a final paper. The professor will rant on and on for an hour each class, you can not always follow the conversation and are left very confused for the majority of the course.
He is very interested about his teaching and is flexible with due dates. We had weekly quizzes on his course but they were very simple. Easy professor!
I will say; at first I was unsure of Professor Nutting because he was very lecture heavy, but as the class went on, I really learned to enjoy it. If you read any review, read mine. TAKE HIM! He's great, easy, smart, and funny! I don't understand these reviews. Sure, his lectures can be a bit slow but overall, he is a wonderful professor!!
There is no structure within his course which makes it very difficult to follow along, especially during lectures. He also does not show your grade through the class which makes it worrisome about your grade, especially since he typically will do a weekly quiz. Could not tell you what I learned
Does not post grades. Attendance itself does not matter, but there ARE spontaneous quizzes "every other week." The reading isn't strictly necessary, but it's the basis for the quizzes, so beware. Bland speaker, but clearly invested in his material. Not for me, but could be for you. Final paper is largely unguided.
Lots of readings. Expects you to come to class prepared to discuss the week's material. Pop quizzes roughly every week, no amnesty if you miss them so attendance is a must.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
82%
Textbook Required
74%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
GPS375
5.0
(2)SXS569
4.3
(4)GPS
4.0
(1)PHIL115
4.0
(1)IR315
4.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
GLOBALPEACE
5.0
SXS369
5.0
445
4.0
PHIL380
3.3
PHIL445
3.2