CHICANO 188
Special Courses in Chicana and Chicano Studies
Description: Seminar, three hours. Some sections may require prior coursework. Departmentally sponsored experimental or temporary courses, such as those taught by visiting faculty members. May be repeated for credit. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 0.0
Units: 0.0
3 of 5
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Omar was the worst professor I have had in my three years at UCLA. He is the most unequipped, unprepared, and disorganized professor. I truly believe he does not have the readiness to be a professor. I was extremely excited to take this serving learning class and give back to my community and learn about organizing. Instead, I got a professor that canceled class frequently, went on rants, imposed his beliefs on students, and shammed students if they supported a certain political party or had certain religious beliefs. Omar did not follow the syllabus which is the contract he makes with students. You could ask me what I learned in this class and nothing would be related to what he points out in the syllabus. Lectures were a waste of time and instead of having midterms and finals, he gave us a movie to watch and respond to. I was never able to express how my service learning went and got placed on my site during week 6 of the quarter since he was extremely disorganized and unprepared. I felt very attacked during lectures and Omar made sure to impose his beliefs in every one of them. He bashed the Christian faith every chance he got. Saying microaggressions back in forth and could not stand other students deferring opinions. He once went on a rant that no students should ever donate to Christian organizations because all they try to do is convert people and abuse them, which I think is such a polarized belief. He wanted to impose witchcraft on all students (since it's what he practices) and his practices of self-care. We learned about his mental health problems, HIV positive, and the depression he was going through. Even though I believe these are important topics to talk about I do not feel this entire quarter and every lecture was the time and place, Omar made sure to make all lectures about that. Most of the time I felt I was coming to a class to hear complaining instead of learning. This class was an extreme joke and anyone could pass with an A+ with their eyes closed. Omar treated us like kindergarten and I am sure my 6th-grade brother gets harder assignments than I did this quarter. I really hope no other student experiences what I had to go through this quarter with this professor. I was deeply disappointed and hope he gets fired from teaching this class and instead get assigned to teaching Gender studies` since that is all he preached about all quarter. I feel like my education and experience at UCLA were cheated and if I could ask for a full refund I would.
Fall 2020 - Omar was the worst professor I have had in my three years at UCLA. He is the most unequipped, unprepared, and disorganized professor. I truly believe he does not have the readiness to be a professor. I was extremely excited to take this serving learning class and give back to my community and learn about organizing. Instead, I got a professor that canceled class frequently, went on rants, imposed his beliefs on students, and shammed students if they supported a certain political party or had certain religious beliefs. Omar did not follow the syllabus which is the contract he makes with students. You could ask me what I learned in this class and nothing would be related to what he points out in the syllabus. Lectures were a waste of time and instead of having midterms and finals, he gave us a movie to watch and respond to. I was never able to express how my service learning went and got placed on my site during week 6 of the quarter since he was extremely disorganized and unprepared. I felt very attacked during lectures and Omar made sure to impose his beliefs in every one of them. He bashed the Christian faith every chance he got. Saying microaggressions back in forth and could not stand other students deferring opinions. He once went on a rant that no students should ever donate to Christian organizations because all they try to do is convert people and abuse them, which I think is such a polarized belief. He wanted to impose witchcraft on all students (since it's what he practices) and his practices of self-care. We learned about his mental health problems, HIV positive, and the depression he was going through. Even though I believe these are important topics to talk about I do not feel this entire quarter and every lecture was the time and place, Omar made sure to make all lectures about that. Most of the time I felt I was coming to a class to hear complaining instead of learning. This class was an extreme joke and anyone could pass with an A+ with their eyes closed. Omar treated us like kindergarten and I am sure my 6th-grade brother gets harder assignments than I did this quarter. I really hope no other student experiences what I had to go through this quarter with this professor. I was deeply disappointed and hope he gets fired from teaching this class and instead get assigned to teaching Gender studies` since that is all he preached about all quarter. I feel like my education and experience at UCLA were cheated and if I could ask for a full refund I would.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Where to begin... I'll start with the positives because there's so few. Lacayo is nice and sometimes funny! She carries herself as a professor and I respect her for that. Unfortunately, at an institution like UCLA, it’s not enough to carry yourself like a professor; it's a fair expectation that you do the job of a professor as well. The course material in general is easy to comprehend, whether you do the readings or not. But it's the stringency of grading, non-existent explanation of expectations regarding assignments, and the truly shameful quality of office hours that make this course the worst course I have ever taken - no hyperbole *cue loud booing*. (For reference, I am a 3rd year & have taken multiple classes in the department. I received my only A- (ever) in her class and I doubt it's because my work ethic/study habits/writing style drastically worsened. My biggest gripe with this course (Afro-Latinx 188) is with the grading. For the course, you’re required to write a 2 page mini essay, in-class essay, and 6 page essay. However, for all these essays, Lacayo will repeat the word “analysis” without any true explanation of what - precisely - she is looking for. For the midterm Lacayo instructed for us to “write down” the requirements, with no given rubric or written prompt (she literally could’ve emailed it). Though frustrating at the time, I realized how unfair this was when upon returning the midterm, she created a moving goalpost of expectations - informing us that many of us did not fulfill a requirement that she never mentioned (I would know, I take hyper-meticulous notes). Also, she gave us four, yes a measly four, days to write the final essay worth 40% of our grade - assigning the prompt at the last class for no apparent or justified reason. And if that wasn’t enough, the TAs, both non-Chicanx department related grad students, were terribly unequipped to assist with any relevant plight regarding the course - really nice people though. Lacayo roughly assigns 50-100 pages of reading a week, which is to be expected at UCLA; yet, she does little to no close reading. The word “unpack” often appears in her lectures but 15/10 times, Lacayo does not “unpack.” She instead resorts to YouTube videos and simply reiterates the same 3 words, without truly engaging the text. If you're looking for engaging lectures or if you're under the guise that doing all the readings will assist you, I’m sorry to report thus is not the case. Think you can remedy the aforementioned issues by visiting her at office hours? No can do! When you go to visit her one (1) scheduled office hour slot for one (1) hour to *hopefully* get insight on what exactly she wants, she will probably show up 30 mins late, repeat the word “analysis” a couple hundred times, and then send you on your merry way. If possible, avoid Lacayo and her courses unless you willingly enjoy unnecessary stress.
Fall 2019 - Where to begin... I'll start with the positives because there's so few. Lacayo is nice and sometimes funny! She carries herself as a professor and I respect her for that. Unfortunately, at an institution like UCLA, it’s not enough to carry yourself like a professor; it's a fair expectation that you do the job of a professor as well. The course material in general is easy to comprehend, whether you do the readings or not. But it's the stringency of grading, non-existent explanation of expectations regarding assignments, and the truly shameful quality of office hours that make this course the worst course I have ever taken - no hyperbole *cue loud booing*. (For reference, I am a 3rd year & have taken multiple classes in the department. I received my only A- (ever) in her class and I doubt it's because my work ethic/study habits/writing style drastically worsened. My biggest gripe with this course (Afro-Latinx 188) is with the grading. For the course, you’re required to write a 2 page mini essay, in-class essay, and 6 page essay. However, for all these essays, Lacayo will repeat the word “analysis” without any true explanation of what - precisely - she is looking for. For the midterm Lacayo instructed for us to “write down” the requirements, with no given rubric or written prompt (she literally could’ve emailed it). Though frustrating at the time, I realized how unfair this was when upon returning the midterm, she created a moving goalpost of expectations - informing us that many of us did not fulfill a requirement that she never mentioned (I would know, I take hyper-meticulous notes). Also, she gave us four, yes a measly four, days to write the final essay worth 40% of our grade - assigning the prompt at the last class for no apparent or justified reason. And if that wasn’t enough, the TAs, both non-Chicanx department related grad students, were terribly unequipped to assist with any relevant plight regarding the course - really nice people though. Lacayo roughly assigns 50-100 pages of reading a week, which is to be expected at UCLA; yet, she does little to no close reading. The word “unpack” often appears in her lectures but 15/10 times, Lacayo does not “unpack.” She instead resorts to YouTube videos and simply reiterates the same 3 words, without truly engaging the text. If you're looking for engaging lectures or if you're under the guise that doing all the readings will assist you, I’m sorry to report thus is not the case. Think you can remedy the aforementioned issues by visiting her at office hours? No can do! When you go to visit her one (1) scheduled office hour slot for one (1) hour to *hopefully* get insight on what exactly she wants, she will probably show up 30 mins late, repeat the word “analysis” a couple hundred times, and then send you on your merry way. If possible, avoid Lacayo and her courses unless you willingly enjoy unnecessary stress.
3 of 5
