James Seaton

School: Grand Valley State University
Department: Philosophy
Location: Allendale, MI
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Pros: Easy class
Cons: Harsh grader
Boring
Does not ask for your opinion on anything
Seaton stands there and lectures the whole time. When he assigns 4-6 page essays, you have to write his opinion, not your own or else you'll get a low grade, so take notes on what he says in class. He was so boring, I could not handle it. He gives a quiz everyday on the reading. It's an easy 5 question quiz, but you have to read or else you won't do well.
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The professor is a nice guy, and this is the only reason why I did not give him a 0.0 score.
This is one of the worst classes I've taken in my experience at MSU. The workload is high: there are six books, and it seems like you will always be reading or catching up on the reading. There is also a film that goes with five of the novels, so if you want you can miss class every other week and watch the films on netflix or get it from a movie store. The workload is far from the biggest flaw of this course, however. This class relies on excellent writing skills; I do not know why this is an IAH course seeing that 80% of your grade is on essays, two written at home, two in an exam environment, and 20% is participation in the recitation. The grading scale does not help this reliance on writing as well because for the two papers at home, a 4.0 is only possible for a flawless excellently written essay that goes above the question and inserts extremely insightful arguments. To be fair, this is the TA's fault for the take home essays, but the exams seem even more arbitrary; there is no real grading scale, and it Seaton picks a random number for each essay. The problem with this course is that if you already have an ability of critical analysis, you do not need the course, but it will be difficult to get a 4.0, and if you can not analyze literature, this class will not help you do so, and you will do poorly. There is little knowledge to gain, it is difficult, and there are several second-tier IAH courses that can be taken that are easier and are more interesting. I highly recommend a different IAH course if at all possible.
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This is honestly my 2nd or 3rd rating. I had to give him this rating because he truly is a horrible teacher. No room for your opinion, no reason for the grade that you receive. He would put one little comment and give the whole paper a 2.5. I've never received a bad grade in my other writing classes, but he obviously did not like my writing style. Worst teacher ever! AVOID
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Really nice guy. I took a summer class that was suppose to be 4 hours every Mon and Wed. We usually got out 1.5 hours early.
I'm a shitty writer, so I was happy to average a 3.0 on all the papers. I only skimmed through the 5 books that were assigned. You can tell what the essay / test questions will be like by his questions he asks the students in class. Based on that, highlight the quotes he tells you and find some of your own if you can.
I especially liked that he doesnt get frustrated when he asks questions and no one answers (appears like no one has read the book). If no one answers he just tells you. Stress free, low work load class.
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I would not recommend taking this class with him. The reading assignments are long, you have in class writing assignments every class period, and he grades really tough. Your grade is based on 2 midterms, in class writings and 2 papers.
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He is awful. I took him two summers ago in Bessey and it was terrible. I didn't like his reading choices and his lectures were so so boring and difficult to stay awake for four hours. You write in-class papers everyday so you have to keep up with the reading. I ended up dropping the class, wanted to take it again this summer and he's still teaching it! wtf
**AVOID**
PS- He wears the same clothes everyday!
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I thought he was great. Not boring, actually quite interesting. I like the way he ran the class. He was flexible, and just a nice guy. His grading was a little harsh, but I ended up doing pretty well. I liked his style a lot.
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I have never had a professor who had such a hard time formulating coherent sentences. He spent most of lecture just talking absolute nonsense. The papers are fine, but the two exams were so dumb. They are so broad and if you didn't write what he agreed with he basically just gave you a bad grade. University Requirements are bad enough by themselves; you don't need a bad professor as the icing on the cake.
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This class is very boring. He just summarizes books and "takes attendance" i found classes pointless to attend. 2 papers, mid-term and final which were both in-class essays. he makes you read six books throughout the semester. most of the books were on sparknotes which didn't make them horrible to read. i dreaded going to this class, avoid if possible
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Really nice guy, so it's hard to hate him. But, his class is so boring. And the "discussions" or him droning in front of the class don't seem to bring up an compelling ideas or topics from the book. Plus, I think he's a little bit of a harsh grader...avoid his class if you can!
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Although the class reading was mildly entertaining, Seaton is incredibly boring...to the point that it took everything in me to get up and go the few times I did go. I got a 2.0 in the class, and I'm not complaining, but he does teach 800 level classes and I think that may have swayed him to judge his 210 students a little harshly. If you have to take this class, I suggest taking another professor.
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Don't take him!!!!! If you have an idea that isn't his- well, you're wrong. His note on one of my papers was "you make a strong arguement to support your thesis and your paper is well written, however,I don't agree with the idea" WTF? so.. strong evidence... well written- and I got a 2.5 ...unbelievable...
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Seaton makes me want to pull out my own fingernails (though I'd rather go at his first). He's really nice, don't get me wrong. I have some pretty serious biases, and I can undstand why some students like him. But he's everything I hate about the English department. If you managed to enjoy Dead Poets Society, you'll love him. He clearly loves literature and thinks it's all about great historical minds and the wisdom they want to impart to us through their writing. I happen to think that's a load of BS. And my grade reflects that. If you are into critical theory, avoid him like the plague - he will squash you. I haven't done my best work in his class (because we're reading bores like Henry James, who seems to have been paid-per-comma), but I feel that I've been graded based on my opinions, rather than on my ability to back them up. He gave me a poor grade on Invisible Man because I wrote about white supremacy and essentialism, rather than Ellison's method of developing character. Theory-heads beware.
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Seaton...very nice gentleman teaching with jeans. Lectures don't allow enthusiasm and class participation and discussion is difficult within his lectures, he rambles on philosophy and critical theory without making sure that the students are grasping the information. Papers are allowed rewrites, yet the attempt to correlate information on his guidlines is difficult. See him in office hours with paper ideas before you turn it in! Tough grade, what you learn will be on your own readings, not his lectures
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Seaton knows the material very well, and it is evident that he has not only read the assigned books numerous times, but also that he had read a significant amount of accompanying material. However, mostly due to the material, the class is exceedingly boring unless you are interested in the material, which I was. He does not write on a board, but it is not difficult to take good notes from his talking, and often, the things he says during class can be directly included in the assigned papers (2 papers of 8-10 pages). He grades somewhat harshly, but allowed a rewrite on the first paper. The midterm and final (in-class essays) were graded much less harshly and were open book. Do no take the class unless you are at least somewhat interested in the material: if you are interested and willing to write decent papers, then the class is fine.
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I don't doubt that this man is intelligent, but his lectures were painfully boring. The books are impossible to finish on-time, but if you actually read them, they are great books.
Like the previous post, the TA graded everything leaving little for this teacher to actually DO.
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The class was okay. I enjoyed the reading material, for the most part, and the workload wasn't too bad (but lots of reading). He's a nice guy, and he always lets us out early. He's so nice that I almost feel bad for saying this, but... the lectures are SO. BORING. AHHHHH. It was impossible to pay attention! It seems like all he was doing was summarizing whatever the readings for that week were. So you could either do the readings and NOT go to class, or NOT do the readings and GO to class -- either way, you wouldn't be missing anything.
I got somewhat lower-than-desired scores on my papers and essay exams, but I can't complain about that because the TA was the one who did all the grading. In fact, it seemed like the TA was the one running the whole class. I really don't even know HOW to grade Seaton, because I don't even know what he actually DID.
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In the interest of fair disclosure, I should say that this was not a realm of literature in which I'm particularly interested. He briefly held my attention through James Wright and Alexander Pope, but otherwise, I was bored to tears. I had to sweat blood to write the required essays for the class without passing out from boredom, but I got a 4.0 on all but the one we weren't able to re-write.
Seaton seems inexplicably fascinated with ancient classical literary theory (e.g. Longinus, Plato, etc.) while I couldn't care less. He's animated and excited about the shit, even. Whatever. He's a little off and very very boring. I don't recommend him.
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i hated this class and never went purely bc he was there...i wanted to go, it was the closest class to my house, i was excited for it...but then i didn't go bc it was wasting over an hour of my life every wed and mon...he's nice but soo unentertaining
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Professor Seaton knows his stuff, that's for sure. Whether or not you'll know it when you leave this course, well, that's dubious. The material is rough stuff -- and generally pretty boring. As a professor, he lectures, which is a bit different than what I was expecting in an English/Philosophy class -- all of the previous ones I've had were discussion-based. There was only one book, but it was a helluva read. I've never gotten less than a perfect 4.0 on an English paper in six years (high school an college), and then this class came along -- you can be the best essay writer in the world, but if you can't systematically understand philosophy, it won't matter. Half the grade he gives you is based on your writing ability -- the other half is your ability to interpret the philosophy. He doesn't read from lecture notes, but formulates while he is speaking, which makes lectures at time kind of slow. He's a nice guy, and he allows re-writes and open-book exams, and if there is a fault in the class, it is probably just with the material. I don't think anyone else could teach it any better/differently. I probably wouldn't take this class again, but I don't regret taking it.

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