A sample of anonymous student comments on SOC 101, Introduction to Sociology, taught by Kenneth Westhues in Spring 2005, at the University of Waterloo

Excellent. I will further pursue sociology courses because of the interesting topics presented in SOC 101.

The prof was amazing. Great material, please keep this going.

Broadened my eyes to the concepts of sociology in the real world. Outstanding job Mr. Westhues!

Waste of time, but required for degree.

The teacher engaged the students in an entertaining and captivating way. It was a privilege to hear him speak each night.

The instructor presented information and brought up topics that made me think even after class was over. It stimulated my mind more than any other course ever has.

I am glad I took it primarily because of a number of new views that were presented to me which I may not have considered before.

Difficult to know what to study. Please emphasize major points in written work more.

Excellent. Westhues does a great job of not focusing the course on memorization and leaves room for individual expression in the course work.

I took soc in high school and thought it was boring. Westhues really gave me an understanding of how important it is. He allows creativity and participation and is just downright awesome and inspiring.

More than others, this course requires and teaches critical thinking. The material was quite dry sometimes.

Instructor always found an effective way of presenting course material without simple regurgitation of readings.

Good intro course. Presentation of material was scattered and hard to follow a lot of the time.

A great instructor who clearly cares about his students and the material. A great course and learning experience.

You can actually think about what you've learned and have an opinion. It's about real life, my life!

Excellent and eye-opening. This course embodied all the positive things that university life has the potential to be.

One of the few courses that makes students think for themselves and appraise their values, and is relevant to real life.

Excellent; opened up my eyes to the society.

Excellent experience not just as education per se, but as a life process. No other course in university has done so.

Course is excellent. I find that the material is too slowly introduced at the beginning of each class. I find myself saying, "And...?" Then I'm like, "Ah, I see!" I wish there were some questions at the start of class to stimulate interest.

The instructor wanted to maintain student interest even to the extent that he would see students if they did poorly on a test. He cared enough to go over the test with the student and show their strengths and weaknesses. Thank you.

This is the first course I've found interesting in all of university, and I'm in fourth year.

It is a good course but the format is very relaxed. I did not perform to my full capacity.

This course is good for opening one's mind to some of the other important aspects of society that an engineer may never really think about.

The basis of the readings was sometimes difficult to comprehend.