Bain, Alexander  

This was by far one of the most BORING, USELESS, and TIME CONSUMING courses I have ever taking in poly all thanks to Bain. There was either an inclass writing or quiz everday on the material that was supposed to be read. During class discussions, if you dont agree with his ideas you might as well keep your mouth shut and tell him "I DONT KNOW," because if you opened your mouth be prepared to have a GOOOOOD explanation on why you think your right, and you ALWAYS need to support your ideas in the text, although he never seemed to do so. Papers were a bunch of BULL SHIT, graded on whether you agree with him or not, not on writing style as clearly stated in his own damn syllabus. If you read this Alex, FUCK YOU! Also be aware of the homosexual connotations in EVERY FREAKING CLASS!!!!!!

Bain somehow found a way to ruin British Literature. If you have a different interpretation of what an author meant don't bother sharing it because he will make you feel like an idiot if he disagrees. His grading is completely subjective and I am pretty sure it is based on whether or not he agrees with what you were saying, not whether or not you can write and back up your view. He picks favorites, speak up and add to what he was saying if you want to be one of them. He let us out of a 5-7 class early once. If something seems unreasonable say so and he may lessen the load because he's new and doesn't know what he's doing. Our final was going to include memorizing the title and author of every piece of literature we read, but he changed it to only half. What a nice guy...

The only thing Prof Bain succeeded in was making be hate British lit. He is extremely condescending and somehow has the ability to make you feel like the dumbest person on earth...about everything. No matter what your opinion is, it's wrong and stupid. Every class there is either a quiz or in-class writing based on the previous readings (which are usually numerous and long). There are two papers, which he will probably reem you on, and a final. The final is extremely unreasonable and hard to study for. In his defense, I don't think he wanted us to fail, but he needs a lot of work on his teaching skiills and his interaction with students. I would definitely try to take another teacher if possible.

This teacher might be the anti-christ. His head is shaped like a moon and he is the most gawky shaped man, if he is a man, ever to exist. He speaks as if he has an english accent but he's not. He grades like a monkey who just had pooh thrown at his face. I never thought I could actually hate a teacher, but he proved that wrong. I hope nobody ever has the unfortunate event of taking one of his classes. I'm sorry for you all and society as a whole for this man being born. Fuck you Bain, Fuck you!

Bain wasn't really that bad. If you take his class credit/no credit then its cake. The only thing that sorta sucked was that he was anal about attendance, so for nonenglish majors taking it credit/nocredit it was a pain in the ass to come to every session prepared. There were in class quizes on the readings, but honestly he didnt give much reading for each session. There was only one really long reading (heart of darkness). The quizes were really easy if you read, and the in class writings were easy as long as you at least attempted some sort of explanation to the reading that he asked for. Use lots of quotes and back them up and you're golden. I believe hte essays were graded very fairly. He gave good feedback and the essays didn't have to be very long. The final was very easy, if you at least studied a little bit, and kept up with the reading during hte quarter. I know it sounds like a lot, but read the couple of pages assigned each night, talk in class, agree with him, back up what you say, and write using lots of quotes.

I won't lie, Dr. Bain is a difficult teacher. But I didn't think he was nearly as bad as people say he is. It is difficult to analyze literature and I think that's what bothers people. He was open to other interpretations of works than his own; he just often didn't agree with them. But it was also okay for students to disagree with what HE had to say -- if they had good examples from the text to back up their claim. The reading quizzes each week asked some random questions, so read the text closely. The midterm and final were not too difficult, just an essay and some passage identification. We were always given a choice of 1 out of 3 essays, and a choice for passage IDs as well. If you don't want to think, don't take Bain.

Despite what others have said, I don't think Prof. Bain was bad at all. Although I am partial because I enjoy literature, it seemed that even the students that weren't at interested in the class had no complaints. This class was very interesting, mentally stimulating and operated in a discussion format. Prof. Bain might seem critical at times but I think he definitely took everyones opinion into account. The class wasn't that difficult as long as you read. There was an essay (300-400 words) due once a week and a quiz which were both fairly easy and Prof Bain was always willing to help guide you in the right direction, (I went from a 6/10 to a 9/10 by the end of the quarter on the essays). Bain Also has a dry sense of humor which was always pretty entertaining. If you're interested in learning, analyzing, and discussing literature, I would definitely recommend Bain.

In every class with Bain I had to fight the urge to shove a pencil in my eye to end the torture of listening to Bain laugh at his attempted jokes. After the first week, I considered dropping out of college and working at Taco Bell. Isn't there a literary group that hunts down professors that actually ruin the work of Faukner, Hemingway, or Ginsberg for their students? If you don't like regurgataing the vomit that was spit out to you, then I'd suggest you put off graduating in exchange for taking any other english professor.

Bain is not a great teacher, but I feel like, with time, he could improve to be ok, I think we got the worst of it because we were his first time teaching core and english majors. The workload is intimidating at first, but when you get down to it, the presentation is not a big deal, and the paper isn't as hard to write as you think. He does a poor job of handling class discussion, and I often left class wondering what the hell I was supposed to get out of it or why we had even read the selected work. I think he's also a victim of teaching a core covering too many years (1914-present is a long, diverse time period), and he doesn't seem to be well versed in some authors/works that we talked about. We would often bring up things he hadn't thought about and then he'd stand there for a few minutes sometimes trying to figure out how to respond. He also fails to explain basic characteristics of a type of literature. However, I feel like he did try and was open to changing his style a bit. He did take the time to learn all our names (something other core teachers couldn't muster), which I really appreciated. The quizes are pretty easy if you do the reading and review character's names and plot points, and his paper grading is all over the place. My only other recommendation is to really try to participate (unfortunately, he can be non-responsive or edgy when he responds to your input)

Bain is an intelligent guy, but unfortunately, he's not a great teacher. He did a poor job of tying things together, expanding on themes, and just explaining the jist of a work in general. I regret to say that I really didn't get much out of this class at all. I know he's new to teaching core and that he'll improve, but I'm not sure he will ever learn how to really communicate well with students.

You would be hard pressed to find a more incompetent teacher than Bain. As a teacher of English Core he's supposed to know at least SOMETHING about the past texts we've studied and be able to tie them in to the course's literary era, but he had a hard enough time with the current texts. If you asked him a question he didn't have the answer to, he'd stare at you like a cow then continue talking like it didn't happen. He also LOVES burning up time by making the class read passages in a circle, which is not only a waste of time but a completely useless skill I thought I left behind in third grade. I got a C because I stopped caring about the class, but just to show that I can learn on my own I pulled an A on the final and boosted my grade back up. His sense of humor is pathetic and begs for student acceptance, but unfortunately for Bain respect is earned.

bain is the sharpest facilitator of in class discussion. It was amazing to see how he got people from such a variety of majors to develop an active interest in the literature we were studying. It was his first quarter at poly, and it was interesting to see his teaching style evolve and improve over the course of the quarter. He gives the impression of letting the students run the discussion, yet he always manages to keep the class relevant to the literature.

Professor Bain was an interesting professor. Although this class satisfies the GWR which is practically the only reason why people are taking it in the first place, he still expects the class to run as though it was full of only English majors. His choice of material is, although interesting, very difficult to understand considering the class discussions jump all over the place. There was never any clear direction on how to understand the literature. His expectations are ridiculous as far as our understanding of the historical context of the literature. Although his essay prompts were definitely intriguing, no one was prepared to write them because we were never given a lecture solely on modernism and its historical importance. Only take this man if you already understand England in the early 1930's, otherwise be prepared to self teach about modern and post-modern Britain. It's nearly impossible to get a good grade in this class without having this historical background. (Which he expects you to have but does not offer)

Before class starts, Bain hands out reading quizzes that are easy if you read the material. After that he primes a discussion and everybody talks about the book or poem or whatever. There are two essays, one 3-5 pages and the other 5-8 pages, no midterms and the final is hard...really hard. Bain can be a bit condescending and because of that a lot of students don't participate in discussions, which hurts their grades. Because he looked at me like I was a dumbass whenever I spoke (and because I pissed him off when I told him that Brit Lit takes a back burner to Senior Design) I thought he hated me and that I would fail the class because of it, but he really does want his students to do well. He called me after I took the final because I only wrote one of the two required essays to tell me I could come in and write another essay. That was about a 9.8 on the coolmeter. Thanks Dr Bain.

If you don't like to talk in class, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. But if you don't mind discussing a few things here and there it's not that bad. There isn't that much reading, but if you don't do it it's hard to write the essays. I'm pretty sure everyone passed the GWR on the first try so I would recommend this course if you're looking to fulfill that requirement!

English is not my strong point, but Bain made this class fun and interesting. As much as I don't understand poetry, I still tried. He gives pop quizzes every week, so make sure to do the readings and remember the little details. I did the readings, but never remembered what kind of bird or animal was in the story. Watch out for the little stuff. Bain is a good prof. who likes to get everyone involved and hear what they have to say. I would recomend this class to anyone who needs to take english and the GWR. It was easy enough for non-english majors to comprehend.

Professor Bain is a good professor...for the most part. Sometimes his overanalysis of books kills the novel and he also is a very picky grader when it comes to writing. Also, student teaching requirement is SOOO boring and does not help any of the students at all. The material was excellent, and the books were very interesting to read.

Overall his class is a good class to take to get your GWR if you need it, and if you like to read and write. The Response papers aren't hard, but if you dont like to write you might tire of writing a 1 pg (500 word) paper about ever other week. He assigns 6 papers and you write 5 and he drops the lowest score. He's not the easiest grader on the papers, but if you read his comments you'll keep improving. If you keep up with the reading you should do fine on the quizzes, midterm and final. The quizzes are 5 point reading quizzes, usually once a week (at random). They're usually just basic details, character names etc and theres often a bonus point so you can make up for a bad quiz by doing well on the other ones. The midterm and final consist of passage ID's (you get to choose 7 out of 9) and you get points just for knowing the author/title plus an easy context question. The essay portion has 3 prompts and you choose one and write a 500 word essay on it. There is also a teaching assignment which is a pretty easy A or B for the most part. He'll pretty much tell you what he wants you to cover and you can easily divide the work among the group. An A might be hard to earn but a B is definitely in reach if you do the reading, and I think everyone passed the GWR in class.

I don't know what most of the reviewers experiences with Bain were but mine was very enjoyable. Dr. Bain is an interesting teacher and tries to keep the class lively. He is open to people disagreeing with his views on the novels as long as they can back it up. Backing it up means with page references and knowledge. The Response Papers are easy, and so are the tests...hell the GWR was easy. True the tests almost have nothing to do with the lecture. The Essays are about analysis of a passage by using the methods mentioned/discussed/used in the lecture - but they really are just argumentative papers - take a stand and support it and you will get an A on your paper - took me 3 papers to find that out but once I did it was smooth sailing. He also does random reading quizzes which can give you up 15 or so Extra Credit points. Read the books and go to class. I recommend Dr. Bain and 350 for anyone who wants alternative to British Lit or Shakespeare

BAIN is a huge dick! Not only is he boring, monotone, and a complete deuch bag, he actually thinks that he is a good teacher. His assignments are unclear, his lectures painful to sit through, and his impressions make you want to kill yourself. AVOID at all costs!!

I took Bain's Contemporary Global Fiction class. The texts required for the class were some of the best I have ever read: "No Telephone to Heaven" by Michelle Cliff, "Lucy" by Jamaica Kincaid, "In the Country of Last Things" by Paul Auster, "When We Were Orphans" by Ishiguro, and "Anil's Ghost" by Michael Ondaatje. The required reading was the only really positive thing I have to say about the course. Only five novels in ten weeks... not too bad! However, Bain's teaching style completely stifled the class. He is very non-responsive to student input. The class is a seminar and is taught discussion style, however if you do not agree with Bain, you MUST be ready to back up your opinion with the text (know exact page number). There are a handful of short in-class writing assignments, two 4-5 page papers and one 10-15 page research paper. The writing component of this class is what is going to kill you. Bain is an extremely hard grader. You are required to reference the secondary reading materials that he hands out in class, which consist of boring political rants about globalization and modernity. One thing in his favor, however, is that on your papers he really does give constructive criticism and if you pay attention to the comments he writes, you will improve throughout the quarter. Unfortunately, for most people in my class, that meant going from a D/C- to a C/C+. The workload in this class is light, the class discussions are interesting, the material is for the most part inspiring. Just be prepared to have your writing torn to shreds and your ego deflated by him.

During this entire quarter all I could think about was how this professor reminded me of that small little dog that runs through the back of scene 23 in The Incredibles by Pixar. Seriously, if you look it up you will only be able to see it...