If you come to class on time, participate in class discussions, and do the assigned work you are garanteed an A. Having a clear thesis and supported argument on your papers is key. This may sound like a lot, so I suggest only taking this class if you are interested in the subject matter.

At times, Professor Nida can be difficult to understand and to get along with, but his intelligence and dedication put him in the top nth percent of professors at UCLA for overall class value. At first, much of the assignments he assigns, mainly the 1-3 weekly reading responses, seem like mindless busy work or Dr. Nida's attempt at weeding out the less dedicated students. Don't get me wrong, these assignments do serve this purpose, but they also serve a student extremely well on the midterm, term paper, and final. If you stay faithful to these weekly tasks, ask relevant questions in class to clear up any misunderstandings, finding out what he wants in the process; you are sure to learn valuable material concerning African American history, which is largely unrepresented in the historical "canon." In addition, this will also put you on the path to an attractive grade in the end. By all means, GO TO OFFICE HOURS, very cliche, but especially relevant in this class. Like Grandma wolf or something, the better he knows your face and your work ethic, the better to judge your participation grade with. Many students dislike this class because they are used to going into Afro-Am classes repeating material that they looked up on Wikipedia right before class, saying some politically correct and attractive statement, or schmoozing with the instructor. This will not work with Nida because he seems to see right through those feeble attempts. I've taken the time to write this long review because I believe that it may help some other student, because the class changed my life, and I obtained a great grade, even though my views in class rarely ever aligned with the professor's, something that most students are hard pressed to find here at UCLA. Take this class if only to broaden your perspective and open yourself up to a necessary challenge.

Run; do not walk, away from this class. Unless you are a masochist, then by all means, sign up! This class was a punishment. You are NOT guaranteed an A by doing all the work. You may be guaranteed an A if he likes you, which is, of course unethical. For example, most students got marked off for citation errors on their midterm paper, but certain people who made the same errors did not. He is not willing to give back a fraction of the amount of work and dedication that he expects you to put in. If you post your weekly responses a minute late, he will not accept them. Yet he posted the final study guide 2DAYS LATE. And the final had little to do with the study guide, and was framed in a very "gotcha" fashion. Even students previously enamored of this class were upset after the final(only 2 people got the high score of 33 out of 40 on the final). I read every page of every reading, posted my weekly questions on time, participated in class, studied for days for the final, and still got a B in this class. I am an A/A+ student, I have (HAD!) a 4.0 GPA, and I got the first B ever in this class. He is the worst professor and a discredit to UCLA.

Worku is an idiot. He is completely incompetent and extremely difficult to understand. He thinks that whatever he says is pure fact. He does not meet in office hours and does not respond to e-mail. If you take his class I highly recommend that you purely agree with everything he says to get a good grade.

Oh how I regret taking this class. The subject is interesting but the professor makes it totally uninteresting. He requires a ton of reading and weekly commentaries, but when it comes to class he goes off of tangents and never addresses the readings. Don't ask him anything because he will always tell you to look at the syllabus. If you are really interested in the material take this class but be prepared for lots of reading with no professor input and participate or your grade will suffer.

I just want to clarify that pertaining to the review below- I do not know whether Nida grades according to how much he likes you, nor do I believe that he is unethical. I was being sarcastic. I also do not know for a fact that someone was not deducted points when other people were. I did not see the paper in question.

One word: AWFUL. Seriously, stay away. Far far away.

LISTEN! DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS! He picks favorites, his entire class was based on equality and exclaimed that no one should experience any form of discrimination. However, his actions failed to emulate anything he taught! He doesn't want to help students and he puts down the opinions of others if they don't match his opinions. I REGRET TAKING HIS CLASS!!!!!!!!! HE IS AWFUL!!!!

LISTEN! DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS! He picks favorites, his entire class was based on equality and exclaimed that no one should experience any form of discrimination. However, his actions failed to emulate anything he taught! He doesn't want to help students and he puts down the opinions of others if they don't match his opinions. I REGRET TAKING HIS CLASS!!!!!!!!! HE IS AWFUL!!!!

Professor Nida was excellent. His M164 class was probably one of my favorites that I've taken at UCLA. He began the class explaining that students needed to be comfortable to talk and express their thoughts in class. I usually don't feel comfortable speaking in class, especially if I don't agree with the professor, but Nida created a very comfortable environment where students could speak their mind. The class was easy, especially if you did the readings. I didn't do several readings and still got an A in the class. The best thing was that Nida was always willing to speak with you during office hours to expand further on topics. Talking to him during office hours is where I realized that he really wanted students to open themselves up to ideas that might seem uncomfortable. Maybe to you it feels wrong that an author would write about African Americans during the Jim Crow era enjoying themselves. But Nida had us read these authors to open us to the idea that African Americans are not simply victims. They were instrumental to the creation of the U.S. Sure Nida's accent is a little hard to understand once in a while, but he was an excellent teacher who really cares. Take him.