Gubin, Oleg  

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This sort of a long evaluation, but since Gubin is not on here yet, I think it is my duty to tell you what a horrible teacher he was. I did not like professor Gubin at all. Do not take him if you can help it. First of all he is Russian, which I am not saying to be racist or anything, but he has a very thick Russian accent. His accent makes it extremely hard to understand most of the time during lecture, especially learning the new vocabulary that goes along with the class. He trys to repeat the words that don't come out clearly, but it just makes him sound crazy, and you don't understand him any better. He tells you to ask questions, but if you ask a question he thinks is dumb he calls you a loser. Now, I guess there are worse things he could call you, but what the heck right? Even if he does answer your question, you are often left with a less than satifactory answer. He told us countless times that he does not like the way Americans do things. For his grading there is a mid term worth about 60 points, a group project worth 15 and the final work about 60 points. The tests are multiple choice, true false,or fill in the blank. That does not make them easy though. They are very specific and he does try to trick you, so watch out! He says there is some participation factored in, but I did not see it come in anywhere. He tells you right off the bat that his average for the class is usually around C-. And this was definately true for our class. Of course there were a couple people who got their As, but a good amount that have failed the class as well. The only homework in the class is reading the textbook. Make of that what you will. He expects everyone to attend class and takes off points if you miss too much, and believe me, you will want to cut this class. The only good thing I can possibly say about Professor Gubin is that he let people make up the midterm if they missed it because they were sick or whatever.I would not reccomend this teacher to anyone! My roommate was looking for classes to crash and saw that his was open, but didn't take his because of the stories she has heard from me. I could write more, but I think you can see my opinion.

If you like Cal Poly, than it's better not to take this class. He ripped on the school the whole time about how horrible it is compared to other universities. His thick russian accent does not help either. His lectures were long and boring and he lectures the entire time in his class. Meaning no group work, reading, or anything. Please don't take this class, you'll be in for a world regret. It is a frustrating class to say the least.

This guy is a total communist, however, he is funny at times. He does rip on Cal Poly a lot because he likes to think that the "Soviet Union", even though now non existent, is much better at providing education to its citizens. He always says (in a thick Russian accent mind you) that "Russia actually cares about citizens, which is why they do not charge for textbooks there. Not like here, meaning the United States, where you have to pay for your books..." Like seriously, who cares? Anyway, I wish I would have taken this course as a graded class, instead I took it Credit/No Credit. The midterms are mainly multiple choice, true/false, and fill in the blank, and are a cake walk, as long as you read and understand the bold words in the chapters. The presentation is easy and it is only worth fifteen points anyway. I would usually spend all lecture laughing to myself about how he repeats his words...it is really bad... for example... "So basically basically culture and religion form civilizations civilizations civilizations civilizations. Now very briefly (cough) very briefly lets talk about middle class middle class middle class." That is just a small portion of it, and to those who have taken a class with Dr. Gubin, you know what I am talking about! Overall though, he is a pretty decent professor, very to the point. I would recommend him if you need to fulfill this area elective, he is easy, and he will make you laugh. However, I think he would be better off back on the Red October.

If you love russia and want a class where 90% of the information comes from the book, then you'll love oleg. Hes also a nice guy and tries to be as funny as possible but the thick accent makes it hard to get some of the words through. I loved his stories about his gangster russian past and how he cant see out of his left eye. I would advise that you take him. The class is graded on 2 mid terms and a really easy presentation.

I would recommend taking this class credit/no credit if you're bad a t memorization. Your grade is based off of two tests and a project. the project is worth very little of your points and pretty vague. the tests are multiple choice and fill in the blank but they are straight from the text book vocab. some questions on the tests are from diagrams from lecture, but he will tell you which will be on the tests. It's a very boring lecture but you need to go. sometimes he lets you out early.

So basically basically basically a racist, communist, Cal Poly hater. Why is he teaching here?

Soc 110 with Dr. Gubin is a rather easy class. He passes a study guide out a few days before the test and he throws no curve balls. Asside from the ease of the class Dr. Gubin is not a good teacher. He is entertaining. He isn't afraid to swear. He will challenge everything you belive in. But he blows at presenting the material. If you are looking for a good time and an easy class take Dr. Gubin.

He reads from the book for the entire lecture. I don't really have much more to say than that. I wouldn't mind, I could have just read the book at home--but he takes attendance, and you lose points if you don't attend. Basically to get a good grade you're forced to listen to him read to you (as if you were in elementary school) for hours at a time. His English is broken and his tests reflect that. I was able to understand him, but really what's the point? I know how to read. I can read text books on my own. I continuously found myself wondering, "Why again am I paying for this?"

After taking three of his classes, I can confidently say that Dr Gubin is the best teacher I have had at Cal Poly. He was able to make all of the material extremely interesting by transposing it from its dry textbook format to a real life context relevant to students. Dr Gubin is exceedingly knowledgeable in sociology and is incredibly cultured and thus always uses original examples and anecdotes to explain things. I think students who describe him as a "racist" or "soviet" are simply frustrated because he took them out of their comfort zone and they were unable to deal with it. Dr Gubin is also a nice guy. He is very approachable and always willing to help students. If you are looking for an entirely fresh perspective on culture, society, and the world at large I strongly encourage you to take one of Dr. Gubin's class.

Those who have condemned professor Gubin as a Russia loving communist who is a poor teacher are extremely ignorant. Gubin does make reference to Russia in order to assist his examples, but has made it clear that he has significant problems with his home country and wants to raise his family in the US. Furthermore, he is very open about the realistic presence of racism in society, and never once in his discussion of race made any comments that would make him racist. Furthermore, his apparent political position is far more right than that of the texts he teaches from. He was effective at challenging the very basic and comfortable assumptions the students have, but many seem unable to see the intelligent ways he was addressing this (possibly the accent played a role, it is factor). Overall however, he was a very knowledgeable and effective teacher for those who actually paid attention and didn't just write him off at the first sign of an accent.

Dr. Gubin is an extremely interesting man. Going into the class I was very apprehensive because I had heard so many negative things about him. The first two weeks he is extremely hard on the students and says some pretty offensive/controversial remarks. He comes off as a complete jerk but I finally realized that he does that to get his students' minds rolling, and also to weed out the not-so-serious students. Once I came to class with that in mind, I came away with completely different thoughts about him. He is actually hilarious- and not as American and Cal Poly hating as everyone thinks. Though he loves Russia he realizes that his home country has a lot to learn from Americans and vice versa. He is extremely intelligent, sometimes a little arrogant but he really appreciates students who challenge his ideas and authority. Overall, I thought Gubin was a great professor and I'm glad I took him the last quarter he taught at Poly.

Yes, Dr. Gubin is a Russian professor, and in some ways he is different from other Cal Poly professors. But in all fairness that is one of his many strengths, his diversity of thought and his pragmatic approach to teaching. His knowledge is superior, especially in dealing with complex subjects such as framing and network analysis, pardigm shifts, and social movements to name only a few. I probably had Dr. Gubin for more classes at Cal POly than any other student and he always made himself available to discuss different topics after class. By no means did we always see "eye to eye" but he always encouraged diversity of thougth and academic excellence. Lastly, anybody that accuses Dr. Gubin of being a "communist" is just plain ignorant of Dr. Gubin and the teachings of Marx, Engels, and the history of the Soviet Union.

he sure does like his women, wet!!