1.6
Quality3.5
DifficultyN/A
Would Retake127
ReviewsN/A
Would Retake
127
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
0
4
9
3
18
2
30
1
70
What Students Say
“Literally the worst teachers i have ever had”
PHIL101 - 1.0 rating“ABSOLUTE WORST TEACHER AT SONOMA STATE”
PHIL101 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
100%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.00 avg changeRatings by Course
101
2.0
(2)PHILOA
2.0
(1)PHIL101
1.8
(103)PHIL200
1.5
(11)PHIL220
1.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
CLASSPHILO101
5.0
PHILOA
5.0
101
4.0
PHILO101
4.0
PHIL201
4.0
Reviews (127)
not very clear, subject matter had no real direction
No Comments
he is the worst teacher i have ever had! he makes no sence and dosen't explain
Zeno provides the most opportunities to waste your life away with busy work
No Comments
Not always very clear. Never had a problem with him being rude, as many people describe. Other than going to class, I spent about 15 minutes a week on his work and got an A in the class with no problem.
Very difficult grader. He is very unclear in his lectures, and often wanders away from the class, literally! Many of his projects are pointless and unorganized.
He sometimes teaches Pihilosphy and the internet.... what a piece of ****. It it more like "Current events of the 1980's" The text he relies on was printed in 1985, and he spends time lexturing on outdated material. His projects are pointless an
He is **** against men and his english is poor. His topics are out there (Puppet/Cyber****?) and have little to nothing to do with the internet as the course was supposed to be about. Borring class lecture and papers are easy if you B.S. them enough.
This guy is wierd, and most likely ****. His grading wasn't bad , but he made a 50min class feel like an eternity. The material he presents is an absolute waste of time.
This was the worst class I have ever taken. I would avoid him at all costs. No one ever knew what he was talking about and I don't think he did either. To top it off he tried to make us write a paper on puppet****
A waste of a semister. The projects-mindless regurgitations of conflicting/scattered/asinine directions. The class-an absolute joke. You could not pay me to do it again. It was an exercize in torture, if anything.
I took this class in the summer, 2 weeks, 4 hrs/day, 5 days. It was great. 11 people in the class, no busy work, there isnt enough time. Discussions, a short project. Piece of cake. Easy A. (but i did hear from friends his class is no good during the year
Easy A -do the busy work:) Very nice guy. However, he is quite clumsy. Also, didn't learn much of anything. The whole class laughs behind his back for his antics/Dutch accent. The dropout rate is quite high ~50%. That's a shame because the class is easy!
do the work and you'll get an a. participate some and do the oral presentation and you'll get a good grade.
This Amsterdam loving Swedish dork stinks up the world. Talks about masterbation and being colorblind in class. A good class to take if you want to become a retard. His idea of a good time is a bunch of masterbating knights and knaves on an island.
The class is based on a lot of busywork. He grades harder than you would think, but if you want a good grade then make a meeting with him before you turn a paper in. Not fun, but a lot if classes get cancelled.
Loves to talk about the most random crap. Shows up to class in the same clothes as last time. Did not understand the term "Chicks". ...this man is obviously a foriegner, and creates a bunch of confusing, overgraded, busy-work, uninteresting assignments. Im over this guy.
Basically this teacher assigns a lot of extra crap to do. There is really no point to any of his assignments. Hard to understand with his thick accent. Run away from this evil monster!!!
This Dutch guy is an absolute PERV! He started talking about " Puppetry of the ****" in class... Moreover, This guy is the KING of meaningless homework--gives a tone of it, but it's all stupid 3rd grade level material. I question how this guy ever gone Tenure? Go back to Holland!
This class is the absolute DEFINITION of a GE Course! ZENO is mundane, trite, and boring! This guy really brings the school down---**** him! (He's Kinda cute though ladies)
Learned about environmental science and no philosophy what-so-ever. Uninteresting teaching style. I would never recommend him.
Zeno's class was very very boring, but you can just show up and get credit. No test. only has a few essays, but he is a really tough grader. Does everything through WebCT. Not very helpful when you go in for office hours. A TON OF BUSY WORK. Good Luck
This is maybe the worst teacher that I have had at school. He is not helpful at all, he is actually pretty mean and puts you down when you ask for help. He gives tons of busy work and makes personal attacks on the ideas you have in class.
I had philosophy in cyber space which was supposed to be philosophy that was involved in something like the Matrix, instead I had to write a 10 page paper on whether or not you can be raped on the internet. He also stared at the girls... I got an A, but would discourage you from taking him as a prof
he is horrible to much busy work
All the work we do is lacking clear explanation. He loves to give a lot of busy work. If you are not connected to the internet you will fail this class. Everything he does revolves around the internet. Many WebCT posts, online syllabus is where you have to FIND your homework. Website very unclear.
My only question is, if this guy is an "Employee-at-Will, how come the school hasent discharged him yet? Or why is it that this guy has survived the budget cuts. But honestly, this guy did do one thing for me---He inspired me, because if Swijtink could make it life, than ANYBODY can!(hes also cute)
he is so hard and he doesn't have any office hours and you can expect at least 3 hours of homework everynight... he gives more homework than my other 5 classes combine... DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I was ever going to begin a purge, I would start with the Sonoma Phil. Dept. It would be a toss-up to see who went first, Shvi-teenke or Parker, but I think I could get them both at the same time. If you're going to hurt this much - do it to yourself; shove a dull pencil through your temple.
Lots of busy work but no tests. Can grade a bit rough and maybe a bit arbitrary on the papers but as long as you keep up with all the small assignments this should not be a problem. May cost more time than necessary though.
assignments were unclear. I was unsure of what his expectations were. he also said I looked sick = ugly.
Terrible. In every way. I can't even find a silver lining in taking one of his classes. He can't teach or grade. What a waste.
No Comments
No Comments
he sucks... if you value your free time and sanity... do NOT get him!
This guy was a CREEP! His class is all busy work and you wont learn anything. On one lame assignment he asked that I meet with him about the grade he gave me and then he WINKED at me and sort of hit on me. VERY WEIRD GUY! Stay away.
the homework wasn't difficult and the project was actually kind of fun.... but not helpful at all and extremely confusing
O. . ..M. . . F. . .G, worst teacher at SSU, don't even TRY to take a class taught by him. completely incompatent.
No Comments
I hated it soo much I dropped out by the 2 week and switched professors.
not that hard but a little distant. he had to deal with the passing of his dad during my class session so maybe that had an effect on the class as a whole, who knows?
Very interesting man something wrong with his upper lip...it never moves, saw him at the gym twice looked like he was about to throw up... in conclusion tough class tough teacher, I pulled a B
the absolute worst teacher i have had for any subject ever...unclear in all aspects...lacks integrity and lies to his students...never take a class from this man...he is a terrible professor and a terrible human being...
Im a good student and this class was torture. dont take it
Worst teacher ever in the history of teaching!!!!! No joke. Weird guy who gives out so much busy work it is ridiculous. Never take him. Take the class at a JC if you have to but stay away from this freak.
Boring class with a lot of busy work. On the upside there are no tests, just 3 papers and random assignments. Loads of Web CT responces, which are easy to forget about. But he is a pretty understanding professor. this class is good if you check the class website constantly for random assignments that dont do anyhing, like i said...busy work.
very hard and lots of homework, ex journals. and big presentation at end of semester
if you wanna take a class where you dont learn anything and all you do is busy work this is the class to take. there is so much random junk on the internt that he has you do. i dont suggest this teacher because it is a waste of life.
Really boring teacher. He gives alot of busy work. Example Journals and WebCT. He gives all his assignments on the web, some assignments are harder to find on the website than others. Over all not a good teacher.
weird guy. Had an argument with some of the girls in my class about how its okay to put sexually stimulating subliminal messages in movies in order to get women "in the mood". Easy class to pass, but SOOOOOO boring. He also has a fixation with the girls. Watch out ladies! Zeno's on the prowl!
This class is all busywork and you don't learn anything. The professor is way weird and unreasonable, especially when it comes to homework. He never tells you what the homework is and assumes you check the website everyday.
miserable teacher, 100% busy work, and lots of it. avoid this guy at all cost. He is also biased torwards women. He often grades papers without even reading the whole thing.... again... MISERABLE
i liked zeno. hes quirky and hard to understand at times, but you have to get used to him. if you're on his side and do the work like he suggests, u'll get an A.
i thought he was an okay teacher although sometimes hard to understand due to his accent. I got a B for the class but i could have gotten an A if i had done the homework.
Zeno is out of his mind. The class is based on nothing, and you think that you've done what he's asked, and then you get your grade and you're like, WHAT? How the hell did that happen? This sucks, and he's an idiot out in left field. Terrible and unreasonable. A waste of your time.
Zeno is completely fair and lays out his expectations at the beginning of the class. It is a lot of busy work, but it is all very easy to do. I feel like I learned a lot in this class and I got an A-. You just have to show up and do the work, easy as that.
Hated him, said he "Did not understand my point" during my 3 minute presentation although everyone else in class said out loud to him that it made sense to them. By the way he stretched that presentation out to 45 min. Hated him, still do. DONT TAKE HIM. And he sucks at grading too
Really, nice quirky guy, but the class itself was very unstructured and confusing. I bump into him a lot at random on campus lectures and outside of class he's pretty cool. However, there is a lot of online assignments (busy work, but not really hard). The goals of the class and various assignments are unclear.
He has a heavy accent but you'll get used to it, if not just ask him to repeat himself. He does many small projects, you'll learn to like the class. A lot of busy work, do all of it. Go to class,overall easy just do your work. good teacher.
I loved Zeno. People say his accent his heavy? No..not at all you can totally understand him. There are two main group projects, and many online journal entries. If you are motivated about school and willing to take a little time out of every day this class easy. You can't have more than 15 absences and if you go to office hours if you can!PHIL101
Honestly, I could barely understand him. Everything you say is wrong then he tells you the correct answer which is a restatement of what you just said. He is WAY to into his job, not in the good way. Says something vague and later you find out that he was talking about an assignment. Honestly I think the man lives in the ether or something.
Zeno was not that bad at all. He was a little unclear about assignments, but was a pretty easy grader, so it wasn't much of an issue. Class was easy, mainly just discussed random topics. But go to class and do all the homework and you'll get an easy A. Attendance is worth about 5 points per class, so try not to miss too many (you can miss up to 15
At first i hated him and thought there were too many assignments. But I went to every class and participated in all the discussions and got an A. Show up and talk and you'll be fine. A few essays, lots of readings, and a 2 small presentations.
at first i did not like him and thought he gave too much work but it really was not all that hard. i enjoyed it. just make sure u do online assignments bc thats a big part of your grade. he gives plety of opportunities for extra points. go to class and do work you get an A
He assigns plenty of busy work like keeping a journal, but if you keep on top of it, it'll be easy. He gives lots of opportunities for getting extra credit too and there are no tests. So over all, it's a pretty easy class as long as you apply yourself (i.e. no sleeping in class). I liked it and there were fun assignments.
NOT HAPPY. you cant miss class and get a good grade. At least one assignment due every class. Usually 2 or 3. If he doesnt like you then he noticeably drills you into giving him the "right" (his) answers. Theres alot of work for this class but if you stay ontop of it youll do fine. All in all...i wouldnt take this class again.
I didn't like him at first. I thought he was rude and didn't explain things clearly. He assigns a lot of busy work and a couple papers, but overall all you have to do it go to class and try.
ZENO. NO. NO. NO. Like many before me have said, do the work and go to class and you should be fine. But he's hard to understand and it's his way or the highway. My grade dropped 2 letter grades from participation, and I spoke in class and had okay attendance. Ze-NO. No. No. No.
Can't Understand him and there are no right answers unless they are his answers. really rude and innappropriate as well
Its a lot of busy work, stay on top on things i missed one day of class and didnt miss an assignment and got an A not an easy class sometimes his accent is hard to understand but everything he wants done by nexct class is clear
He looks like Alfred the butler from Batman sporting his glasses and hairstyle. As looking at him is genuinely funny the teacher is ridiculous! Avoid him at all costs. His lectures are pointless, grading too harsh, and his teaching style is clear as mud. Showing up for his class 3 days a week 9am was torture. I got nothing from his class!
Word to the wise: avoid Zeno like the plague!!! I thought I'd take this class as a challenge, but really it's been miserable. When you ask him a question to clarify his expectations he gets offended. His accent is annoying although not hard to understand. Having an engaging and clear teacher will definitely improve your experience.
Do your journals and online discussions! Easy points. He puts you on the spot during presentations or when you say anything. He's a nice guy with a funny accent. Some of the topics are interesting.
He puts people on the spot a lot. Lots of homework, but it's easy. Thick dutch accent. Classes are pointless and boring.
I have never had a teacher less competent and inspiring than Zeno. He refuses to bend to the will of anyone but himself, is completely unclear about his expectations for assignments, and is unwavering on attendance. Say no to Zeno.
Save yourself from a semester worth of headaches, stress, and frustration. He should not be teaching. He does not explain his expectations. He got sick during the last 2 weeks of the semester, and during that time he expected our class to do a project, presentation, and paper worth 60% of our grade without discussing it in class at all.
The classes are truly pointless. Just do the journals, papers and online discussions for extra credit. He has a thick accent and puts people on the spot so it's hard to have interesting discussions when he does that.
super easy teacher and easy grader on your essays just turn in EVERYTHING and go to class you will get an A for sure. lectures are also random and you don't need to take notes because they don't really apply to anything
I had zeno for philosophy 101. I decided to drop the class because I could barely unerstand what he said and his handwriting was even harder to understand.
Most students at this university are pretty clueless. That may be the reason why so few people understand this guy. It's not difficult if you attend classes and do the work... since when was all that optional, anyway?
Zeno is a horrible teacher. If you are an athlete, beware! Do not take this class! He does not like athletes at all and will not give you a fair grade regardless of how well you write. Try to get into another philosophy class if you can. Really. There is way too much pointless busy work, and the class is exceedingly boring.
Honestly, i dont think i learned much of anything in the class. But my advice to you is DO ALL THE ONLINE ASSIGNMENTS! They are pointless but a lot of your grade is based on that. There is a lot of work for the class, but its not hard(busy work) so just do it
it's not that hard if you do the work, online assts especially. contribute as much as you can & ATTEND. he's an odd guy that's for sure, but it's not enough to completely skew your grade. take him if you really need to get tha ge out of the way. good luck
dont take him. if you want a lot of busy work, homework just about every night. a lot of pointless things to do. takes attendance every day. if you like that kinda stuff, then go for it...
As long as you show up to class and do the easy assignments, you can't fail. There is hardly any reading. There are NO TESTS. The only way you can fail is by missing a ton of homework assignments or not showing up to class more than 10 times. Lots of easy work.
Zeno's class is very obscure. He is hard to pay attention to, and very confusing. As long as you do all of his online assignments(they are tedious but just do them) GO TO CLASS, and write the papers you will be fine. His class is basically a load of B.S. so just do the busy work and you'll get through.
There is a lot of busy work. He literally spent a week "teaching" us how to use Google. On the plus side, there is no midterm or final. It's an easy class if you show up and do your work but it's frustrating and painfully boring.
After looking over all the comments on this site about zeno, I still decided that I would try taking the course, thinking that busy work couldn't be that bad. Boy, was I wrong! If I could do it again, I would NOT take this class. But, if you do choose to take this class... may the force be with you, and good luck! :0)
I thought coming into this class we would be learning about philosophy...boy was i wrong we didnt learn anything about philosophy..we spent more time learning about the internet than anything and then he just sent us home to do the work which was a few assaignments every night..i would highly discourage anyone from taking him
I did not look at rate my professor.com at all before taking Zeno's class and i SHOULD have!! He is one of the worst teachers i have ever had..he gives us pointless assignments to do on the computer and if you don't have a MAC, good luck figuring out how to do some of the assignments, because he won't know either. Avoid him at all costs!
Zeno is HORRIBLE teacher. Seriously. The worst I've ever had at SSU. I ended up getting a C in his class. He made absolutely no sense and was not clear about his expectations or the class itself. We had to do an interpretive dance one day. So dumb. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.
Ok, he was a bad teacher and very boring. But it's really not as bad as a lot of people describe. He doesn't even teach "philosophy". He barely grades, and when he does he grades EASY. I missed an entire section in my emotions paper (got a 75%)and did not even do my brief presentation, and ended up with a B+. Don't be afraid of this guy.
Just plain awful. Assigns about 5 assignments every class period...about 15 a week... pretty time consuming and annoying because you really don't learn that much about philosophy. Worst class I have taken here yet. I would strongly advise you get out of it if you can.
I learned more about google and how to upload files to moodle then anything about philosophy. Such a bad class. Lots of pointless busy work, with presentations...15 page essays...and did I mention all the busy work? Jeez don't even consider taking this class. NOT WORTH IT!
DONT TAKE THIS CLASS!!! It makes your whole semester seem horrible. It is hours of pointless busy work, with lots of frustration because of all of the online assignments. He doesnt explain things well, and gives tons of work. I was really interested in philosophy but now could care less. Easily one of the worst teachers at this school.
Unclear, mean, not helpful, hard, lots of work, not fair to students, annoying, you don't learn anything. I think I am going to schedule an appointment with the school because this man should not be teaching. It's that simple. He is the worst of the worst of the worst...RUN RUN RUN GET AWAY! This man is evil! I think he takes pride in being so !@#$
Lots of BUSY work and not much teaching!!! Easy 'A'! Final paper was crazy long (15 pages) and group project/presentation/paper was boring and pointless!!! Easy 'A', so if you are looking for an 'A' in te section A3 of the GE pattern take Zeno!
Very hard, lots of assignments. Hard to understand and he has a hard time understanding you. Used a LOT of books. Had some dumb projects like one about a nuclear power plant that had nothing to do with philosophy.
My class should have been called biology 101. This may have been the worst class and teacher i have ever had. If you like non relevant busy work take this class. and if you dislike dutch people, this class is not for you
Take this class for an A. He may not be clear on what he wants, but show up to class and do the easy busy work and you will get an A. A few long papers but you are writing about yourself so not difficult at all. Didn't really learn anything philosophical as much as I leaned about biology. Take this class if you are looking for some good laughs.
This class was an easy A. We learned a lot about biology and the environment more than anything else. Honestly that is more intriguing than philosophy anyway. There is homework due every class period, but it is all easy busy work. There were no tests or quizes. There were a few long papers(final), but if you want a few good laughs take this class
This was the worst class I have ever taken. He doesn't make sense and gives WAY TOO MUCH homework. 5 assts a day. He will explain how to do the assignment after it is due. He doesn't make you read too much and there are no tests. A few HUGE long papers. A LOT of tedious work. This class killed my GPA and I wish I had dropped it. DONT TAKE ZENO..
This class was a complete waste of my time. I couldn't understand a word he said, he had no idea what he was talking about, we learned absolutely nothing, and all we ever did was busywork. Don't take this class, it will ruin your GPA and your good mood.
This is honestly the worst teacher I have ever had and will probably ever have. He does not teach you a single thing about philosophy. I honestly believe that he is trying to brainwash us into becoming hippy environmentalists. If you want to be in the worst class of your life then take him.
words or emotions cannot explain hoe useless this class was. in between him being permenantly stoned and creepy, to his thick dutch accent, you never know what is goin on. lots of useless learning. basically you go to class for 2 hours and listin to him ramble about absolutely nothing. very poor reflection of ssu
WORST TEACHER I HAVE EVER TAKEN! I tell all my friends NOT to take him. He literally has made me burst into tears because I worked my butt off and got a bad grade- 45% on a twelve page OPINION paper. I cannot stress how much I despise this man!
The amount of work he gives is ridiculous. I was doing way more homework then my other friends who had a different phil 101 teacher. However I managed to get all of my work done and ended up with an A. The work isn't difficult it is just very very time consuming.I also learned nothing about creative thinking. Choose a different professor!
Class is a lot of work that really has nothing to do with philosophy. Work itself is pretty easy. I managed to get an A. You just have to do the work. You will get frustrated easily though. You will have to buy like 5 books and use them all a lot, and keep a journal. One personal presentation and a couple of group presentations.
WORST TEACHER OF MY LIFE. DO NOT TAKE HIM. This class had nothing to do with philosophy and there is so much work it is ridiculous. You will be saving yourself so much stress if you do not take him.
Ridiculous amount of work assigned. At the time, work assigned had nothing to do with Philosophy. Looking back I can see how he tried to connect it, but failed. Tries to be a good teacher, but he just doesn't explain things well. I suggest you don't take this class.
Very hypocritical. Teaches a class that should teach open mindedness but yet he is the most close minded person I have met. In his class there are two types of OPINIONS, his and the wrong ones. I would say the class is 90% online yet he is incompetent at helping/working with Moodle (the class' website) himself. If you get him good luck.
Worst professor I could have ever imagined having. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.
ABSOLUTE WORST TEACHER AT SONOMA STATE!!!! DO NOT TAKE A CLASS WITH HIM UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR SEMESTER RUINED!!!!!
This man is not an educator. His concern with his students and work ethic reflect a close minded individual. Awful time and worst way to start a year at college. If you take this class then you might as well drop it and try to get someone else.
This teacher is honestly the worst teacher I have ever had. In Philosophy, you are allowed to have an opinion, but not in his class. This class is full of work that has nothing to do with Philosophy. It has hurt me in other classes because I spend so much time on his homework that is busy work. I pretty sure I got an A in his class. :(
Had him for Critical thinking and he is the least understanding individual on the planet. He fails utterly at the critical thinking aspect of his course. If you weren't agreeing with him he didn't like you. Also a ridiculous amount of online work. Stay away
Horrible teacher, pointless class, did a 20 page paper on my emotions.... Literally the worst teachers i have ever had.
Zeno is a very redundant teacher. Avoid if at all possible. He gives a ton of pointless work that is hard to keep up with, and doesn't really teach anything related to philosophy. Total waste of my time.
He is not as bad as they make it seem. He has a very thick accent and sometimes it is hard to understand. He gives about ten homework assignments before class but he never gives quizzes or tests. Homework is easy and it all takes about an hour to do. 2 small presentations and one final big group presentation. I would recommend this class.
Have fun on moodle.
The worst teacher on this campus, all of his assignments are unnecessary and do not relate to anything we talk about during class. He likes to hear himself talk and he loves moodle but moodle is awful. he is an awful teacher, avoid him at all costs. you will not learn anything. he doesn't speak very good english and has a thick accent. hate class
terrible.
Horrible teacher, not helpful, and completely rude. But I believe he has reasons behind his methods giving loads of busy work. I learned how to work diligently and get things done on time. I still hate him though.
Terrible teacher. Was forced to take the class due to FIG. He had hundreds of hours worth of homework that had nothing to do with the class. Asked for help and support several times, and he was helpless. Avoid at all costs.
This is by far the worst teacher I have ever had. In a philosophy class, he discusses environmental issues. It is also a how-to for moodle. Never seen a teacher go so crazy with that website.
Very poor lecturer. Poor organization. Poor class content. I learned nothing I didn't already know.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
100%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.00 avg changeRatings by Course
101
2.0
(2)PHILOA
2.0
(1)PHIL101
1.8
(103)PHIL200
1.5
(11)PHIL220
1.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
CLASSPHILO101
5.0
PHILOA
5.0
101
4.0
PHILO101
4.0
PHIL201
4.0