Only helpfull to chosen few.

Worst teacher I've ever had

worst professor at Grossmont

learned more in jr. high history

Boring..Boring..Boring AVIOD his classes

Has NO idea what is going on!!!!

Totally Disorganized, Pretentious, Clueless

Kicked me out of his class for being satisfied with an A

No Comments

Confused is the only word that describes this teacher

Awful class, awful professor.

aahhhhh, toooooo hard and talks fast

No Comments

No Comments

No Comments

No Comments

if he spoke slower the world would be a much better place !!!!

He is the W.O.R.S.T teacher I have ever had. He slacked off all semester and our grades are suffering because of it. Supposedly a MOD US history class, but it should be labled as black studies.

Thomas Bell is a horrible teacher. I read the entier book twice and failed every single test. He was never prepared and I did not learn a single thing. Unless you want to fail, DO NOT TAKE ANY OF HIS CALSSES!!!!!

Ok let me start off by saying this: Everything that he teaches you in class ~WILL NOT~ be on the tests. Please memorize every word in the book in order forwards and backwards... no better yet, DONT BUY THE BOOK!!! You are headed for an automatic F.

Nothing in lecture on tests. memorize book to pass tests. i got 40% or lower on every test, but passed with a "c". might have been because i took notes for a hard of hearing young woman.

You will never have a worse teacher. He spends most of the class talking about his accomplishments in a terrible British accent (he's from the Midwest), which are not on the tests. He's got tenure, so watch out.

No Comments

Mr Bell is a horrible teacher.My class had history majors who still failed every test.He does't teach you anything.Tests on the intricate details of the chapters.for your own sanity...DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!

He is the worst teacher I have ever had! He persecutes people based on their religious beliefs, and does not teach the test material in class. He's a very hard teacher and it was torture sitting through his class!

Very hard, tests are stupid. Acts like we know as much as he does, when he is way more educated. Do not take him, you will regret it.

Run away as fast as you can. Better yet, don't even enrol.

Mr. Bell is an okay person but as a teacher, that's a whole nother story. I didn't know that Satan had a father. Now I do. His test are near impossible to pass with higher than a C. He's never focus and always late. Talks about himself a lot.

Bell,Wow,Such a nice and respectable man,but as a teacher you should lace up your kicks and run as far as you can.You know he likes you when he gives you a negative comment on your appearence or when you get a haircut.Might as well have fun your scantron.

Bell should only be permitted to teach fiction writing. He teaches a revisionist version of history that is not backed by ANY text books. If you challenge his supposed facts, he cannot provide sources and will lower your grade for questioning him.

His lectures are confusing. I never understood a thing he was saying. I dropped before any quiz or test, but I could tell the class would be far too hard. Don't take him if you can help it!

you work so hard for nothing. he tells you there is a quiz and two weeks later you have a take home test. the whole class fails all of the tests. i failed all of them and somehow got a C. the man is seriously confused.

3.8 student@Grossmont, transfered to UC Berkeley. Bell is horrible. Test questions straight out of book, not based off of lecture at all. Lectures BAD. Do not disagree with him. 95+ for A is untrue, show up every day, do all work, and you will get an A.

Very hard to understad, most people fail his tests and he blaims the students not his teaching skills. or the lack there of. he puts overheads on the board and calls it teaching. NOTHING on the study guids are on the tests.

Awful teaching style! So unclear. I don't know why he is still a teacher. I would recommend never even starting a class with him. He is so confusing!

He failed my ass.... and I'm not a bad student. 3.5, with one F'

One of my worst ever. Very unclear. I am a history major and I got a C- in his class.

fair warning, do not take this class unless you enjoy being absolutly lost. he loves to comment on how he is a god, totally full of him self. does lecture on things that will be on the test. if u like to read and teach ur self go for it

Professor is a Existentialist and a Postmodernist, look up those terms and you will see why all of the commentators on this site thought that he was hard to follow. He does not care for fact/truth but only for his way of filtering history. Very Irrational

His tests are confusing. Questions like, who was jumped into the lead in trade? Then he states the leading country and the first one. Then when you ask him to clarify he says you should know. He loves himself too! DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.

Bell is a bad teacher. He likes to think his is the greatest, but he will just put up a bunch of un-clear notes for you to copy the whole class. never explains anything, just tells you you need to do it, and he will give you no help on anything.

don't worrie he hates you

His test questions are so random and it focuses too much on a sentence in that book. He also expects us to read over 100 pages of information along with what he has on the board and then pass his lame test. Don't take him, he is not a good teacher. I regret taking this class.

No Comments

so mean, really rude to kids for no reason!!

horible teacher. doesnt understand how to teach. can never make his mind up about anything. confusing and boring.

He is not a good an unhelpfull teacher. The most of his classes he gives to you papers and papers, which explain the tems of the book.Also, He gives a lot of chapters to study without a good and clear explanation. There is no homework, no debating. Also, he always waste time in thing which is not ne

Don't take this teacher whatever you do. He is absolutely aweful, never stays on subject and tries to teach early world history from a "social" perspective, there's no possible way to do this. He tries to talk like an over educated white man which means you can't understand even 1/3 of what he say

Professor is a Existentialist and a Postmodernist, look up those terms and you will see why all of the commentators on this site thought that he was hard to follow. He does not care for fact/truth but only for his way of filtering history. Very Irrational

worst class i've taken in 3 years of college

Worst Teacher Ive ever taken. Probably worst teacher at the college. DO NOT take this class. I would not recommend it to anyone I hated even. He just has no reason to be in a classroom. After a semester of listening to his meaningless liberal ramblings I feel I should have just stayed home.

He was a hoot to listen to because no one in the class knew what the heck he was jabbering about, but he will fail u on everything then pass you with a C

No Comments

this guy is ridiculous, he doesnt make any sense, and he always manages to ramble on about the most inane things. take him if you want to struggle and then get a B

WORST TEACHER EVER!I do not like this dude. He fails you on every test and rambles on about stuff that does not make sense.

He is very hard to understand!!

No Comments

What everyone else said is so true. He is hard to understand, tricks you one tests, lots od reading for nothing but to fail his tests. Intresting guy but horrible teacher, I would not recommend him to anyone. I didnt learn anything from this class.

...To see it as for what it is, do you see, as to see it for what it was, do you understand, as to see it for what it really will be, do you see?...Yeah, that about sums him up...

Not enough room to say all of the bad things. Just avoid this teacher at all costs.

man he's wack

hard to follow, sugar coated language, do not take

Nothing was related! He talked about things that were not on the test. His test, quizes, and finals are insane. 200 questions one the final and then a essay. This guy is on something. Worst Class I ever took. Tries to sound so intelligent. Does he know that he only confusses you more with his sugar coated words. Save your self the heartache. Don't

Read book, taught myself. Talked, but didn't teach much. Announced homework but didn't always collect it. Not enough time given for later, longer tests, and didn't give clear test dates. Students were always wondering what was going to happen in class.

Do NOT take this class-you will not understand what he talks about till the end of semester. It does not matter even if English is your language.

one of the worst teachers I have taken at grossmont

You will never meet someone more arrogant.

Worst teacher ever!

Ok People!if you like to keep your sanity, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH T.BELL. He's the most unreasonable, unfair, vague teacher who thinks he's FUNNY. NOT. He plays major favoritism and his tests are impossible. Even A students can't keep up with this man. AVOID AT ALL COSTS...Don't ruin your GPA...There are so many other Great teachers.

Bell is by far the worst teacher I've ever had. He doesn't explain assignments AT ALL. He acts like he's above everything, constantly says he's "above God." If you have morals or ANY beliefs AT ALL, he will offend you. He tries to use big words when a regular word would suffice. Doesn't help when you have questions. Always says "that of which."

Professor Bell tried to teach history, however he forgot to deal with anything other than his foundation note. Man is the boss, everyone else is below man. He is God, and all are to follow his line of thought, even if it is not on history, which by the way was most of the time. If you enjoy history do not take his class.

DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS!!!! DID NOT MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT HISTORY TILL WEEEK THREE WHEN HE HANDED OUT THE TEST!!!! he knows everything and you are always wrong!!!!!! The class had NOTHING to do with history!!!! your ears will bleed from his class!!!!

WORST TEACHER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just took 1st test week 8. almost the whole class failed. very hard and class time is a waste. u wont learn anything going at all he will just annoy u by saying "do u follow" all the time. stupid class.

He's a nice guy, he does want us to succeed and become adults and all that. BUT he likes to talk is a upper level vocabulary, and I hate when he pronounces "BAS SIC CA ALLY." The notes he gives are just paragraphs that aren't understandable at all or have to do with the exam. This class was a waste of my money.

Two words: DON'T TAKE. Unfortunately he has more interest in turning young men and women into charm school grads. Way off the subject and made comments that were very inappropriate at any academic level. Waste of my hard earned money. It's time for this man to retire. He has an agenda that is only his own.

first six weeks had nothing to do with the subject and then all of a sudden we get slammed with an extremely difficult exam full of trick questions and strange wordings. Rambles about nothing regarding the subject matter whatsoever and then wonders why no one in his class seems to be succeeding. Hm, I wonder.

THE WORST TEACHER EVER!!! because the first day he told us we are not going to be "parots" but "thinkers", I was a fool to ever believe him. He is very unclear, ignorant, and very creepy. I don't know what ever convinved me to take his class. If i learned anything in his class, it was to never trust teachers, always critically judge them...

ABORT ABORT! this guy is a joke. arrives late every day, wastes time. thinks this is a theatre class. didn't give first test until 9th week of class followed by a 3 pg max paper requiring 10 sources. don't bother asking questions because you'll be more confused than before. if you're a guy you might have a chance at a decent grade. waste of life

HORRIBLE CLASS! Do not ever take it because you will be disappointed in his teaching, and disappointed at how he seems to favor certain "Types" of students, if you do not fit those "types" you'll be given a hard time and a bad grade. Don't take him if you want to keep your GPA and respect for teachers who actually do their job.

Seems like a pretty cool/funny guy at first but it a tough grader. Plays favorites with athletes and veterans. All of the tests come from minor details and vocabulary of the text. No direction on papers and you're expected to defend them in front of the class. Loves anything that has to do with France/French Culture and talks about his trips a lot.

mr. bell is a very unclear teacher!!!! 1 word of advice, if u are a male dont wear shorts cuz he loves too peek down them.he also likes to play favorites and ramble

Terrible professor. Seldom shows up for class, and when he does he seldom teaches. I have learned nothing of value. Favoritism and bias abound. Excessively complicated language. "Lectures" are on his travels not the material. This man should not be teaching. AVOID!

he is very intelligent but assumes we all know what he is talking about. i had to drop this section because its already half way through the semester and this week was literally the first week we even talked about history. the majority he was absent we had a sub for one of the days and im going to take his class, he actually teaches. beware of test

horrible teacher. he missed the first 2 weeks of classes and doesnt teacn very well. uses big words and talks intelligently that not a lot of people can understand. do not take his class!!!!!!!!!

Badly biased teacher. Unfair grading for his favorites.

Be warned! He didn't teach on any of the matrial on the tests, read the book if you want to learn history. I did learn a lot about his private life and what his favorite drink is. 2 last minuite final papers that required 10 text sources each! he had to offer extra points at the end b/c most of class was failing.

Prof. Bell is the definition of a pompous ass. I'm not saying that because I'm bitter, I'm saying that because its honest. He is very arrogant and spends most of the class periods talking about his favorite subject - himself. The "lectures" are a joke. You learn by reading the book and that only. I love history but cannot stand this professor.

WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD! He is useless about teaching the subject and is very self centered and arrogant. He in****s your intelligence, never gives back papers and gives last minute papers and suprise chapters for final. AVOID THIS CLASS UNLESS YOU LIKE TO SUFFER FOR AN ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!

Doesnt really teach anything. He seems like he would is a good guy just not a good teacher. He shows up late every day and just talks about random stuff to waste time. If he does decide to talk about somthing relevant it is directly out of the book. Just stay in the class and do the work regardless of your grade he give you and you will pass.

Horrible! His "lectures" have nothing to do with the chapter we're studying. Expects multipage research papers based on a 3 sentence paragraph in the book. Most handouts have an error in them concerning where you will find the topic the paper should be about such as chapter 13 when actually 14. Extremely biased, bigoted, and gay pride oriented.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS-worst teacher ever--hits on some males in class, makes everyone very uncomfortable, then gives them good grades-if he doesnt like you(ie you ask him a question/disagree with him)he will lower your grade-unclear on tests and assignments-demands favors and gifts so he will be in good mood-doesnt talk about text ever, just himslef

First thing first, he makes the class extremely awkward every time. His teaching methods are very different. So different that we only took three tests (2 on material from the book). I seriously did not learn anything from his lectures. I found myself sitting in the room the whole class either listening to his nonsense or starin at the wall.

Mr. Bell is not a good teacher. He's funny, smart, and sharp witted, but he is just a bad teacher. His lectures have no form, he never explains things (instead often telling us to "research it" without explaining further) and his assignments have strict requirements that he doesn't say until well after they're assigned. Avoid him if you can.

WASTE OF MY TIME, KEEPS HITTING ON ME AND MENTIONING LAKE TAHOE LIKE WE WANTS ME OR SOMETHING. VERY AWKWARD.

Mr. Bell does not hand back assignments,isn't punctual,and is rude to his students.He does not treat you with any respect whatsoever. I have no idea what my actual grade was based off of because he never handed anything back. He gave me the only C on my ENTIRE transcript. DO NOT TAKE!!

Mr. Bell is simply a philosophy professor disguised as a history teacher. He talks about himself non stop, is aggressively and unambiguously flambouyant. I don't care what your preference is, but don't force it on your students. I didn't sign up for a phil class, I signed up for U.S. History. AVOID AVOID AVOID! ! ! !

DO NOT TAKE! Very odd teacher, claimed he was the light, omniscient, and omnipotent. Made everyone feel really uncomfortable asking inappropriate questions. Didn't talk about anything to do with history or the syllabus the first day I dropped him within the first week. Do not take him!

I was in History 109 and the class itself wasn't bad; it's the teacher. He shows up late every class, is not clear on anything leaving you confused the entire semester. Oh and did I mention, He "accidentally" dropped me from the class half way through the semester? Yeah avoid this class at all costs, it ruins your GPA anyway.

Do not take his class if you are an ESL student. You will confuse with what is he trying to teach? the exam he gives is terrible. For example, if you are going to answer a question , you need look into 50 answrt to find it . You will run out the time just for look all over the 50 answers.

A joke of a professor. May have a more elegant manner of speaking, but it gets old quick. Late(10+ min) to class every time walking around outside talking, which is incredibly disrespectful. Unclear what he expects from you, will leave you confused the entire semester. expects yu to figure it out what he wants. lectures are rambles on his own ideas

Bell is probably the worst teacher i have ever had dating back to kinder. He shows up 10-15 minutes late every class, and doesnt even teach instead talks about his personal life and makes the class feel uncomfortable with his weird remarks. At the end of the year when we took the final I realized we didnt cover any of the material!!HORRIBLE TEACHER

This professor was so unclear and horrible that I had to drop his class in the middle of the semester so it wouldn't bring down my GPA. Whenever you would ask him how he wanted the homework done, he would say "don't ask me how to do it"

As long as you show up to every class (I think I only missed 2 classes) and show interest, you will be fine. I failed every test and some how got a B. He's a little obnoxious and confusing, but a nice guy overall. At the beginning of the semester you will hate him but over the weeks you grow to love him! Participation is important.

this class was an absolute waste of time!he never shows up on time. random discussions in class. makes you feel your opinion doesn't matter and you never know your grade in the class since he never hands anything back. His lectures are unorganized and test material was not covered in class. do not take him! his "sophisticated" language will get old

Too hard to understand! My vocab isn't that bad and I struggled to "get" what he was saying! Nice guy, but I'd like a Prof that makes sense and I can learn from. And I like history! ugh!

Uses complex (and mispronounced) words to confuse his students, arrives late every class, rarely talks about history, and he WROTE THE WRONG TEXTBOOK IN THE SYLLABUS. Honestly the worst teacher I've experienced. Avoid him and his classes.

DO not take this class, he talks out of context and talks down to you. He is too into himself, literally nothing he gave lectures about had anything to do with his tests. We were still in the first 5 chapters from the beginning of the semester till the end, however almost nothing we talked about in class had to do with the history in those texts.

Do not take his class! He thinks your opinions are worthless and with his comments he makes you feel really uncomfortable in the class. He is always late to his lectures regardless, never clear about what he wants from the students and when students ask for more detail he says; "if I tell you more it will be my work! You should do your own work."

Professor Bell's class was by far one of the most unpleasant classes I've taken ever. Myself and several of my classmates believe that he takes pride in the fact that his class is impossible to pass with an A. First of all, he doesn't give you a syllabus that has dates on it. Every exam you take is basically a pop quiz. DON'T take his class.

Really just do yourself a favor and don't take his class. The reviews here speak for themselves.

Assignments are unclear, and tests are impossible! He refuses to give anyone an A. He purposefully makes tests so they are impossible to pass.

Quizzes are 60 ques of vocab and 40 question on chapters (3 chapters at a time) He is EXTREMELY unclear when it comes to his assignments He is hard to understand.. And his essays are challenging (and again he's unclear what he wants) But he is really nice, smart and the way he talks is funny but in a good way! It's fun to pick his brain

This is the worst teacher I have ever had

Absolute worst experience I have ever had at this school. Bell is pretentious, lazy, and rude. He's not a bad person, but he is the worst teacher I have ever had. Avoid this class at all costs.

Nice guy, but very unclear and absolutely terrible at instruction. Every class session he had us read aloud from the text book. No comments, no real-world connection, and extremely vague (if any!) information on what we were going to be tested on. Like a blind person trying to find a light switch in the dark. Pointless and unnecessary. AVOID AVOID!

He is a nice guy and smart, but very lazy, felt like class time was just social time, we had the same homework assignment for the whole semester, very rude and unclear, impossible to contact.

He has this unusual southern accent and is extremely distracting. He uses very big words and there is no schedule for the class. All the instructions are given verbally, and instructions are confusing and vague. He assigns multiple chapters at once. When students answer questions we asks another question. Makes you feel dumb when answering question

He talks about himself the entire class. We watched one video and never read a book or had any work at all. Last two weeks of school he assigned a huge group project with multiple essays and projects and there wasn't an outline for how to do it whatsoever. We also took 4 tests and learned no material before hand.

Mmmmmm YESSSSS

He is not very clear with his assignments. The assignments and lectures were vague, exams seemed to have more than 1 correct answer. He assigned a writing assignment with very little directions, only to cancel weeks after.

He does all his lectures verbally, meaning no slideshow also doesn't put anything on the board not even using the doc came. Very Vogue on all assignment and even test and the tests are 100 questions if you question him on anything he will shut you out for the entire semester. if you don't have to take him don't!

really bad teacher

Bell is the worst professor I've ever had, hands down. He was rude, egotistical, lazy and obnoxious. He changed previously ungraded assignments to graded ones halfway thru the semester, he wasted a lot of class time, he was incredibly unclear about assignments and didn't want to talk to answer questions. Very hard exams. DO NOT TAKE

Professor Bell was sounding promising at the beginning of the semester but around halfway to 3/4 the way through the semester he seemed very unprepared. The only assignments are tests, one written assignment that he never handed back and a presentation at the start of the semester. Steer clear of professor Bell if you can. You'll thank me later.

You can't tell what your grade is for most of the semester bc he isn't on canvas. The lectures are all verbal so you can't follow. He is extremely vague when assigning work so you don't know what he wants or how he wants it done. And during this pandemic he only contacted us twice in the span of 2 months with no info on how class is going to be.

Verbally berated me in front of the entire class for answering a question where I genuinely thought he would appreciate my answer. I left the class in tears and never went back. I am writing this over 2 years later because to this day I am still upset. He has ruined my ability to speak in class when I already had trouble. Should have read reviews

To the person who said he berated you, please don't feel alone! I took his class a few years ago--AGAINST THE ADVICE of RateMyProfessor!--and he did embarrass students. One time in particular, for an oral group project, he had "captains" stand in front and pick their "team" members one by one until the very last mortified person was called . . .

Get ready to read the entire textbook on your own because his tests include that material, in no particular order, and his lectures are about something different entirely. His lectures are like a separate class and that material is on the tests, too. And then there are oral projects that are completely different, neither text- nor lecture-related..

Don't take this class unless you like being berated and randomly called to present/be interviewed in front of the entire class. He is very disrespectful. Grossmont really needs to re-evaluate him

The class is a lot of work - get ready to read the textbook cover-to-cover and attend lectures that cover different material. Oral projects add another element. Unstuckstudy AI was a lifesaver for study prep.