CLUSTER 60CW
America in Sixties: Politics, Society, and Culture, 1954 to 1974 -- Special Topics
Description: (Formerly numbered General Education Clusters 60CW.) Seminar, three hours. Enforced requisite: course 60B. Limited to first-year freshmen. In-depth examination of political and cultural issues affecting U.S. society from 1954 to 1974. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.
Units: 6.0
Units: 6.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Let me preface this by saying that for this cluster, especially, who you have as your TA matters in terms of the grade you will end up with. However, this being said, I am purely writing this comment because of my love for Sam. She is truly the best TA's I have had at UCLA. She cares about each and one of her students on a personal level. She always makes sure to ask everyone how they're doing, whether or not she is stressing us out too much, if her workload is too much, how our other exams were in other classes, and honestly anything else where she can gauge how her students are feeling towards the course, course material, and anything else she can do to help her students out. If you ever need help with everything, you can email her, such as extensions. She is always happy to give them to you because she never wants to stress anyone out too much. Along what I said above, she is a relatively easy grader. I don't think anyone in the class ever got below a 88 on an essay. If I remember correctly, the grading scheme was 33% midterm, 33% participation, and 33% final. For participation, as long as you are there, even if you are not saying anything in class, she will give you 100% for it because she knows that not everyone is great at communicating to a bigger group of people and would rather listen to everyone else's opinions than give their own. If you are taking this class, and you have the option to take Samantha Acuña, TAKE HER. You will not regret it. Also her jamboards and presentations are pretty awesome too and SUPER informative for your exams :)
Spring 2021 - Let me preface this by saying that for this cluster, especially, who you have as your TA matters in terms of the grade you will end up with. However, this being said, I am purely writing this comment because of my love for Sam. She is truly the best TA's I have had at UCLA. She cares about each and one of her students on a personal level. She always makes sure to ask everyone how they're doing, whether or not she is stressing us out too much, if her workload is too much, how our other exams were in other classes, and honestly anything else where she can gauge how her students are feeling towards the course, course material, and anything else she can do to help her students out. If you ever need help with everything, you can email her, such as extensions. She is always happy to give them to you because she never wants to stress anyone out too much. Along what I said above, she is a relatively easy grader. I don't think anyone in the class ever got below a 88 on an essay. If I remember correctly, the grading scheme was 33% midterm, 33% participation, and 33% final. For participation, as long as you are there, even if you are not saying anything in class, she will give you 100% for it because she knows that not everyone is great at communicating to a bigger group of people and would rather listen to everyone else's opinions than give their own. If you are taking this class, and you have the option to take Samantha Acuña, TAKE HER. You will not regret it. Also her jamboards and presentations are pretty awesome too and SUPER informative for your exams :)
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I usually never write reviews on Bruinwalk, but I am making an exception for Adam. Sometimes you have to take take reviews with a grain of salt because usually they can be at faily opposite ends of the spectrum. I wholeheartedly mean this when I write that Adam is a PHENOMENAL TA. I have had him for two quarters of the 60s cluster but my time in his class has been both enriching and engaging. He truly cares about the topics he is discussing when it come to important political trends, social dynamics, historical pieces, and situating course themes in a modern analysis. Discussions can often feel like a weird place to talk about your viewpoints but Adam always made the discussions relaxed and meaningful. There are always conversations going in his class (unlike other discussions where it could be just silence). Also during the COVID-19 and recently the George Floyd protests he has been extremely concerned for our student needs and has made changes to accommodate students accordingly while also having relevant discussions about the issues that our society currently faces. I don't know what else to say other than the fact that he is fantastic, cares about students, makes topics engaging, and generally has a passion for teaching students about social issues. He has made my UCLA experience thus far one that is academically engaging and enjoyable. He's the best!!!
Spring 2020 - I usually never write reviews on Bruinwalk, but I am making an exception for Adam. Sometimes you have to take take reviews with a grain of salt because usually they can be at faily opposite ends of the spectrum. I wholeheartedly mean this when I write that Adam is a PHENOMENAL TA. I have had him for two quarters of the 60s cluster but my time in his class has been both enriching and engaging. He truly cares about the topics he is discussing when it come to important political trends, social dynamics, historical pieces, and situating course themes in a modern analysis. Discussions can often feel like a weird place to talk about your viewpoints but Adam always made the discussions relaxed and meaningful. There are always conversations going in his class (unlike other discussions where it could be just silence). Also during the COVID-19 and recently the George Floyd protests he has been extremely concerned for our student needs and has made changes to accommodate students accordingly while also having relevant discussions about the issues that our society currently faces. I don't know what else to say other than the fact that he is fantastic, cares about students, makes topics engaging, and generally has a passion for teaching students about social issues. He has made my UCLA experience thus far one that is academically engaging and enjoyable. He's the best!!!
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - This class was super rewarding, and piqued my interest way more than the rest of the 60s cluster. Michael did a great job of teaching and made the topics even more interesting than they already were by picking out the best readings and media to add to our learning. The workload was also pretty light. There was a lot of reading, but not nearly as much as the amount of reading assigned to us in the first two quarters of the cluster, so it felt manageable. There was also only one essay for the whole quarter, so I didn't really have many big assignments throughout the quarter. The only issue I had was that Michael grades a little bit harshly sometimes. We had primary source analyses that were graded kind of harshly and that created added stress when I didn't know what my grade in the class would end up as. But with participation points and everything else, you'll probably turn out fine.
Spring 2021 - This class was super rewarding, and piqued my interest way more than the rest of the 60s cluster. Michael did a great job of teaching and made the topics even more interesting than they already were by picking out the best readings and media to add to our learning. The workload was also pretty light. There was a lot of reading, but not nearly as much as the amount of reading assigned to us in the first two quarters of the cluster, so it felt manageable. There was also only one essay for the whole quarter, so I didn't really have many big assignments throughout the quarter. The only issue I had was that Michael grades a little bit harshly sometimes. We had primary source analyses that were graded kind of harshly and that created added stress when I didn't know what my grade in the class would end up as. But with participation points and everything else, you'll probably turn out fine.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - This is not a review for Professor Decker. This is for the Cluster 60 in general. I decided to take this cluster for its credit (satisfies 4 GE, writing II, diversity, etc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS. Clusters do have the reputation of having a greater workload but it is not the case for this one. I'm so glad that I stuck with this cluster for my freshman year. It's pretty interesting and definitely a GPA booster in my opinion. It's not the easiest A as you do have to pay attention to lecture, do the readings (at least for the first quarter. I stopped using the course reader after the midterm of fall quarter and was perfectly fine). This class helped me adjust to college along with making new friends and strong bonds with my TA. Another benefit for this class is that you get priority for Eng Comp 3 (if you need to take it) for your winter/spring quarter. Based on what I heard from my peers, Eng Comp 3 and writing classes general are EXTREMELY hard to get in since everyone needs to take at least one writing class. You won't have to worry about it as you receive your writing II credit during your spring quarter, which is basically a three hour seminar one a week. You also don't have to worry about not getting a class since you are guaranteed enrollment to the course for winter and spring . I assume that you are reading this review to decide to take this class or not. Well I would like to say TAKE IT because it is extremely rewarding and you won't regret it. I benefited a lot from this class and it satisfied most of my GE requirements as a STEM major.
Fall 2020 - This is not a review for Professor Decker. This is for the Cluster 60 in general. I decided to take this cluster for its credit (satisfies 4 GE, writing II, diversity, etc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS. Clusters do have the reputation of having a greater workload but it is not the case for this one. I'm so glad that I stuck with this cluster for my freshman year. It's pretty interesting and definitely a GPA booster in my opinion. It's not the easiest A as you do have to pay attention to lecture, do the readings (at least for the first quarter. I stopped using the course reader after the midterm of fall quarter and was perfectly fine). This class helped me adjust to college along with making new friends and strong bonds with my TA. Another benefit for this class is that you get priority for Eng Comp 3 (if you need to take it) for your winter/spring quarter. Based on what I heard from my peers, Eng Comp 3 and writing classes general are EXTREMELY hard to get in since everyone needs to take at least one writing class. You won't have to worry about it as you receive your writing II credit during your spring quarter, which is basically a three hour seminar one a week. You also don't have to worry about not getting a class since you are guaranteed enrollment to the course for winter and spring . I assume that you are reading this review to decide to take this class or not. Well I would like to say TAKE IT because it is extremely rewarding and you won't regret it. I benefited a lot from this class and it satisfied most of my GE requirements as a STEM major.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - This is for the Cluster 60 in general. I decided to take this cluster for its credit (satisfies 4 GE, writing II, diversity, etc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS. Clusters do have the reputation of having a greater workload but it is not the case for this one. I'm so glad that I stuck with this cluster for my freshman year. It's pretty interesting and definitely a GPA booster in my opinion. It's not the easiest A as you do have to pay attention to lecture, do the readings (at least for the first quarter. I stopped using the course reader after the midterm of fall quarter and was perfectly fine). This class helped me adjust to college along with making new friends and strong bonds with my TA. Another benefit for this class is that you get priority for Eng Comp 3 (if you need to take it) for your winter/spring quarter. Based on what I heard from my peers, Eng Comp 3 and writing classes general are EXTREMELY hard to get in since everyone needs to take at least one writing class. You won't have to worry about it as you receive your writing II credit during your spring quarter, which is basically a three hour seminar one a week. You also don't have to worry about not getting a class since you are guaranteed enrollment to the course for winter and spring . I assume that you are reading this review to decide to take this class or not. Well I would like to say TAKE IT because it is extremely rewarding and you won't regret it. I benefited a lot from this class and it satisfied most of my GE requirements as a STEM major.
Winter 2020 - This is for the Cluster 60 in general. I decided to take this cluster for its credit (satisfies 4 GE, writing II, diversity, etc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS. Clusters do have the reputation of having a greater workload but it is not the case for this one. I'm so glad that I stuck with this cluster for my freshman year. It's pretty interesting and definitely a GPA booster in my opinion. It's not the easiest A as you do have to pay attention to lecture, do the readings (at least for the first quarter. I stopped using the course reader after the midterm of fall quarter and was perfectly fine). This class helped me adjust to college along with making new friends and strong bonds with my TA. Another benefit for this class is that you get priority for Eng Comp 3 (if you need to take it) for your winter/spring quarter. Based on what I heard from my peers, Eng Comp 3 and writing classes general are EXTREMELY hard to get in since everyone needs to take at least one writing class. You won't have to worry about it as you receive your writing II credit during your spring quarter, which is basically a three hour seminar one a week. You also don't have to worry about not getting a class since you are guaranteed enrollment to the course for winter and spring . I assume that you are reading this review to decide to take this class or not. Well I would like to say TAKE IT because it is extremely rewarding and you won't regret it. I benefited a lot from this class and it satisfied most of my GE requirements as a STEM major.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Professor Reiff teaches the history portion of this cluster. She was nice enough, but I thought her lectures were a bit boring in the way she delivered the content. I definitely preferred some of the other professors to her. That being said, I loved the content of this cluster and it's definitely more manageable than a lot of the other ones (especially as a science major trying to knock out some Art/History GE's). Would recommend!
Fall 2018 - Professor Reiff teaches the history portion of this cluster. She was nice enough, but I thought her lectures were a bit boring in the way she delivered the content. I definitely preferred some of the other professors to her. That being said, I loved the content of this cluster and it's definitely more manageable than a lot of the other ones (especially as a science major trying to knock out some Art/History GE's). Would recommend!
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