This was not an easy ge, but i definitely enjoyed it. The professor uses lots of examples and repeats himself a lot so that you understand the material, which is pretty helpful. In regards to the quizzes, they can be pretty tricky but if you go over the lectures and review them a lot you should be fine. In regards to the papers, just make sure you pay attention to what’s going on in class and really use the material you know, because that will help to show that you understand it (and that’s a good portion of the paper grade). The professor has a lot of extra office hours leading to the paper due dates, so take advantage of them if you feel like you’re lost on what to do. Overall, I enjoyed the class but I don’t think it’s for everyone. The professor was pretty funny and I thought he lectured well. We went over distributive justice almost the whole quarter and the papers consisted of explaining certain viewpoints on distributive justice and arguing for a certain type of distributive justice in the context of a health care policy.

As an introductory political philosophy class, I wish we had done a more broad survey of different topics instead of spending the entire ten weeks mostly covering distributive justice. Despite the readings, which were for the most part quite dry, I think Brad did a good job of making the lectures as engaging as possible (many, many zoom polls), and illustrated topics well by going over lots of different hypothetical cases. The quizzes were somewhat tricky, but you can do pretty well on them by just relying on the handouts he provides which the lectures are based on. The first paper was far more straightforward than the final paper, which had an 11 page prompt that made writing it kind of a chore.

Honestly, the only thing that made this class hard were the quizzes. I know some people did really well on them but most of the class really struggled. Fortunately, everything was graded on a curve so even if you completely bombed it, you'd still get a reasonable grade. At the end we also had an extra credit opportunity for 1/3 of a grade raise on either the quiz overall or the first essay. I think professor Brad is a really enthusiastic and funny character in his way of teaching and i really enjoyed the evolvement of the entire class on taking live polls on how we feel about certain topics. My class in particular was very opinionated so the class never felt dull. Brad is a great professor and you can tell he cares how his students are doing in the class. He's always willing to help and answers questions in class and office hours.

The course had 3 essays with strict wordcap, and two short quizzes about 12-13 questions (all multiple choice). No book needed, all the reading material was given in class on weekly basis. As a transfer student, if I could retake the quarter, this class would for sure not be my first choice fresh off the CC boat but its manageable. Overall, 8/10.

Professor McHose is very knowledgeable and clear with lecture content, but exams can be harder than what's covered in class. Participation in sections is mandatory, and you won't receive full credit unless you are an active speaker. Won't recommend taking for a letter grade.

HATED THIS CLASS. and unless you have a philopsohy brain you probably will to. the course is super misleading and is basically the philosophy of property rights, not politics, and argues over land ownership for 10 weeks straight. the professor is a classic philosophy stereotype and his notes are scribbled words and pictures that make the content more confusing. It seemed impossible to achieve well in this course and seemed very bias in students performance based on previous philosophy experience, and the professor and TA were not helpful in getting your foot in there, giving no feedback on essays . dont take this class unless you love all philosophy or have a strong affinity for property rights

You definitely get out what you put into this class. If you don't go to class or section and actively listen/participate, you will be lost. The tests aren't crazy difficult, but you have to actually understand the material. There are two mc tests (the one you do better on is worth 25% of your grade and the other is worth 15%), and there are two essays, no final. The first half of the quarter was infinitely easier than the second half, but it was still doable. I would recommend going to the PWC or something because philosophy writing is weird. The professor knows what he's talking about and the examples actually make a lot of sense, but if you stop listening for a second you're done for. I personally didn't do any of the readings because philosophers write stupidly, so I would just wait for us to talk about it during lecture. I personally did well but I heard a lot of people got an A- so if you're not cool with that don't take this class. It's a pretty solid class for a GE.

Brad is a gem at UCLA. He is incredibly helpful and cares deeply about student learning - all readings are rewritten in handouts, Brad’s own comprehensible words and the language that appears on exams.

A few words of caution- no PTEs, no BruinCast, no slides (just what he hand draws on the screen), and tough on plagiarism. But, he’s engaging, knowledgeable, helpful, and passionate.

For sure, his teaching style isn’t for everyone. This is a philosophy class, not a politics class. But, even without being a philosophy major, I loved it. If you approach it with the right attitude and see past the tough guy policies/attitude (especially prevalent at the beginning), you’ll have the time of your life.

The class has 2 papers and 2 tests. He gives the previous quarter’s tests to practice with and plenty of time to write.

Overall, I would highly recommend. If you get past the lectures being a bit dry, sometimes, at worst, Brad is a gem, and even the dry lectures are rich and enjoyable. He really becomes himself in his easily-accessible office hours, so please go too!

Professor doesn't record lectures and his lectures are based on his handouts. His lectures are barely helpful because he often strays from the handout or the reading. The essays are so open ended and it's hard to understand what he's looking for. His lectures aren't engaging and even if you try paying attention you leave more confused. I learned more just by going through the handouts myself than from his lectures, but he also includes things he mentions in lectures into his tests that aren't on the handouts. Overall this class was pretty frustrating.

If you aren't into philosophy, this class is often confusing as there is never a concrete correct answer. Would recommend another GE if you can considering there's two essays. No final exam though.

Professor McHose is a great guy and is super knowledgeable. He’s super willing to answer questions in class, is very funny, and cares about his students. While I thought the content was tricky at first, I think he has a really good way of teaching with stories and drawings that help you grasp the concepts. There are three papers in this class, all which you should do well on as long as you put effort in to them. There were also three quizzes which were a little trickier — I spent a lot of time studying for these and still sometimes underperformed. Overall, I think this class is really engaging and shouldn’t be too hard to get a good grade in.