Dr. Piano was definitely an interesting professor to have this quarter. She is extremely knowledgeable on the course materials, and it is clear she cares a lot about what she is teaching; but perhaps she does not care as much about the actual students. There were moments where Dr. Piano was quite harsh; she once or twice remarked that we were all “horrible writers” and, in the first few days of the course, went as far as to deny entrance to the classroom to students when they arrived at 2 o’clock or 2:01 (lecture began at 2). She was extremely adamant on no technology (which some people still used), requested that we buy the physical textbooks, and loved taking questions (to a fault—we would not get through all of the lecture material because she let too many people ask questions). The course itself is not difficult—yes, readings were quite long but that was not really her fault. She did only have 10 weeks to cover 8-9 authors who wrote about wildly different concepts, and to her respect, she did a great job. If you can sign up for a PLF session, please do so! It helped so much during the quarter! “Homework” was a weekly discussion post that was very simple to complete and the midterm was a paper. The TA’s were very supportive and also eased the material’s understanding. Overall, Piano honestly did have a great mastery on the topics, but this sometimes made it easier for her to exert her sense of superiority over us. She wasn’t the worst, so don’t get scared off by the reviews. If you can handle lengthy readings and a professor like her, you’ll be fine!

Natasha Piano is a very accommodating professor. She allows people to enter the classroom late, she speaks slowly so that students can understand what she's saying, and she always posts lecture recordings (and slides of course). She never rambles about random topics, and her lecture slides are always very informative. She doesn't come across as condescending, doesn't assign much reading, and believes in partial credit for late work. Would highly recommend. I wish that I could take it again!!

Edit: These mfs after me are her cronies. Don't listen to them. Wait to take the class with Bransetter, where it's literally impossible to get anything less than a B+. All my homies hate Natasha

My first ever Bruinwalk review to the professor who I aspire to be like:

Professor Piano is incredibly passionate about political philosophy and extremely intelligent overall. I highly recommend talking to her after class or in office hours, she's super sweet and it's helpful if you have any questions about any of the texts. Throughout the course, she was always open to input and criticism, and it's clear she applied some of the criticism from class quarter. Her enthusiam in lecture and clear passion for political theory directly led to many other students, including myself, choosing to concentrate in political theory because of her. I believe political philosophy is a field that could easily be taught in a boring way, but she teaches it in a way that goes beyond the text. She's simply an amazing teacher and you truly would be lucky to get to learn from her.

My overall sentiments are that if you are willing to put in the work of actually doing the reading and paying attention in class, you will enjoy this class and get to learn a lot from Professor Piano. If you know you are not going to do the readings, then don't take this class because honestly Professor Piano deserves better than you. I don't think it's possible to overstate that what you put into this class is what you are going to get out of it.

Grades are split up by participation, discussion posts (which are relatively easy if you do the reading), a midterm paper, and a final. For the midterm, I highly recommend running your ideas for the midterm with your TA beforehand. My TA, Stephen, was really chill and an easier grader than other TAs.

In regards to other criticism, she does now allow laptops and starts class a few minutes late so that late people aren't interrupting (which in my opinion isn't fair to her or the students who came on time). I don't think the reviews are really fair to her with the late policy -- I know other professors who are much harsher, won't let you in the room, dock your participation, etc. Also if you have a class beforehand that's all the way on the other side of campus, just communicate that to her.

Her slideshows are pretty minimal, so you do have to pay attention in class (aka the bare minimum). She doesn't record the lectures, which after hearing her explanation I understand why that's the case. She just doesn't want people to feel self-conscious about answering questions if it's recorded.

If you do the reading, it won't be that hard to keep up. It only seems unorganized to the people who didn't do the reading. I loved the structure of her lectures because it allows you to truly think about and interrogate the texts. It is very helpful though to note down the signposted part at the beginning to keep track. There are times when she ends up repeating herself when trying to explain concepts but that's because she's trying to think of different ways to explain it since students who don't do the reading are confused in class and don't understand what she's talking about (obviously just, I don't know, do the readings?). The only thing I don't like about the lectures is that a lot of students kept asking dumb questions. Why are people wasting her and my time asking when the final is for over 20 minutes? People say she shows favoritism, but it's hard not to when only the same 20-30 people are consistently showing up to office hours and participating in lecture. If you do the same, you will also be one of her favorites. She never actually cold called on any one as far as I remember so you don't have to worry about that. Those who consider this class difficult or hard to keep up with clearly didn't do the reading or don't care about the class. There is a decent amount of reading, so don't take this class if you're not willing to put in the work and read the texts. If you are, you will find them incredibly interesting regardless of if you are a political science major or not. I feel bad for her because she's such a genuine professor and cares about both her students and political philosophy yet she has to deal with students who don't care and then come on bruinwalk and write bad reviews because they didn't do the reading, participate, or even pay attention.

READ THIS!!!!!!!!!! Don't consider the reviews from Winter 2024 because she does not do all that crazy stuff anymore. You can tell she truly took the criticism from winter and applied them to her teaching this quarter! Prof Piano is such a passionate lecturer and truly knows the material she is teaching. The class is super interesting if you choose to do the reading but you can get away with not doing it too. The readings can be a little hard to digest but she spends the class going over the reading and basically breaking it down for you. This is why you can get away with not doing the reading because as I mentioned, she goes over it in class. Just hope you have a couple kids who like to participate because she likes class to be a discussion sometimes. The material is super mind opening though and really makes you rethink everything around you. The only assignments are a weekly discussion post about the readings (TAs usually help you brainstorm what to write), an essay for the midterm, then for the final it is a couple of short answer questions (this may change for future classes as there was a TA strike happening).

Addressing all her previous reviews about her not letting you in for being late. You can tell she was aware of the criticism for this from last quarter so she now starts class 5 minutes later just to allow for people to come in and does not mind late people (still don't do it Lol). She is always actively asking for our input on how she can improve and cater to our learning and understanding. I really ended up loving Prof Piano and am hoping to take another class with her !! Highly recommend!!!

Dr. Piano is a great professor! She is extremely knowledgeable about the subject of political theory and this passion rubs off on her students. I enjoyed every piece of literature in this class. I wish we had an entire semester of this class instead of the way too short 10 weeks. Despite Bruinwalk review Prof. Piano has toned down her strictness and is very approachable. I liked how a lot of the class was made up of discussion. The one downfall of the course is not her fault, but it is so hard to demonstrate one's knowledge of political thought through just one essay and barely a final. I wish we had Socratic seminars that we could get some sort of a grade on or projects that spanned the entire quarter because tests cannot possibly be used to exemplify one's knowledge on these subjects. The readings are challenging, but if you try your best you can take away great concepts from them. This class has sparked my love for political theory and I would recommend it. Some TAs can be harsh graders which feels unfair, but that is kind of the nature of any course. The weekly assignments are great because they are basically graded on completion and keep everyone engaged in the text. Overall, this is a wonderful course!

Professor Piano was an excellent professor this year. I honestly came into the class with apprehensions due to her BruinWalk ratings, but she quickly disproved the negative comments. From the very beginning, she made it very clear that this class and space was open and welcome to all thoughts and ideas and questions we had. She never ever made us feel dumb, even though a lot of the time the readings could present to be difficult. Making sure we understood the content was always her first priority. It was very clear that political theory is something which Professor Piano is passionate about and that translated to her lectures and how she engaged with the content; her passion undoubtedly had an immense effect on me and this has truly been one of my favorite classes, if not the favorite, which I have taken all year. She is a phenomenal professor and I hope to take another one of her classes in my remaining time here at UCLA.

I had a high interest in this subject before taking this class and now I have no interest. The class wasn't hard at all it was actually very easy but the teacher just made it such an unpleasant environment that I didn't want to come to class. She was definitely nicer than in previous quarters and a lot of people liked her but I actually got so much anxiety coming to this class because she threatened to call on people and when people volunteered she would flame their answers. It's not a hard class though so if you are willing to participate you should be fine.

I have pretty mixed opinions about this class. On one hand, the professor is very passionate about the course's content and tries in lecture to educate her students. The workload, while quite tedious, is also manageable in my opinion if you space everything out. She definitely is a lot more chill since last quarter which was her first quarter here. It's not hard to get an A in her class but the work is very annoying which brings me to the cons of the class. I thought the readings were very boring and dense, although I personally don't like political theory which is close to philosophy. I like IR, not theory, so maybe this class was not for me. I feel like the class is just a bunch of busy work. Additionally, the lectures aren't recorded although if you understand the readings you don't really need to go to them. The lectures themselves are quite tedious and hard to follow as her slides have very little content on them and the lecture feels like a seminar/group conversation. Overall, I would try to avoid this class as a GE or even as a pre-major class for all the poli sci majors out there, but know that it is not impossible.

People aren't lying when they say she is not a nice professor to the students. The class itself isn't very helpful, i skipped 80% of the lectures and did fine on the exams. TA said that the lectures actually confused him. I did not buy a single book, save your money. Not too hard to do well in but the professor makes it a slog.

This class is OK.

There are issues with Professor Piano. I too was off-put by the policies surrounding electronics, tardiness, and book editions. But, perhaps as a surrender to logistical facts, she did not really enforce these after week one. And while she does indeed demonstrate hints of pride and superiority, I do not think them entirely unfounded. I mean yeah, I suppose we suck compared to a scholar with a doctorate. It might be mean, but there's truth in it—and it is thankfully irrelevant to your final grade.

Even now, in its infancy, I would still vaguely recommend this class. This type of cursory course is quite necessary for your political development, and I compliment Piano on her choices. You will certainly be reading the masterpieces that expand your soul.