PLAP 2250

If you are at all interested in the history of American political thought, take this course!!! It is fascinating. The readings are very well selected, not too long, and very interesting. The class isn't necessarily an easy A, but it isn't super tough at all. There are two essays and two written in class exams, along with a participation grade. Same goes for her American Political Economy class--which is also a great course. Professor Koganzon is extremely smart and knows her stuff. She is also so well organized and knows how to lead a fruitful discussion whilst providing the class with all necessary information. After this class, I felt like an informed citizen.

This class takes a really different approach to texts because they excerpt texts instead of handing you a whole book and as opposed to mainly outlining the argument and letting you critique it yourself, the class still definitely does provide a good overview of what earlier Americans thought, but there's also a focus on whether or not older philosophical contradictions brought up by American thinkers are still present or whether some phenomenons they predicted still exist. You look into a number of speeches and letters as opposed to treatises. Professor Koganzon is also incredibly smart - she's one of those people who's super familiar with pretty much the entire history of political philosophy, and she's always critical of every idea that comes to her.

Professor Koganzon not only is an expert on this topic but she is masterful at conducting class discussions. In discussions, she respectfully challenges every student which improves your critical thinking skills as well as makes you a better speaker when arguing your opinions. The readings for this course are super intentionally chosen so you are only reading exactly what you need to in order to understand the material. Even though some of the readings are dense, her discussions in class lead you to understand exactly what you need to from each document. As long as you take good notes in class, you will have no issues writing the two papers and doing well on the midterm and final. I LOVED this class and will be taking every class Professor Koganzon teaches–I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This is a great introduction course to politics with a great professor and a manageable course load. Professor Koganzon is highly knowledgeable and will challenge you in highly productive ways. The classes are entirely discussion-based and the readings for each class section tended to be manageable. The majority of your grade comes from two essays of which you can choose one of her prompts or make your own. The rest of the grade comes from an in-class final, midterm, and participation grade. The final and midterm are written and the possible questions are given out two weeks in advance. It is quite a lot to prepare, but they are worth less than the essays. Attendance is also not taken too heavily as long as it doesn't interfere with class participation.

Koganzon is quite likely the best professor I have taken a course with before—and PLAP 2250 is quite likely the class I have enjoyed the most since coming to UVA. The course is structured masterfully, covering a wide range of concepts and documents that are central to developing an understanding of American political institutions. The course readings include excerpts from The Federalist Papers, influential Supreme Court decisions, Democracy in America, presidential speeches on foreign policy, and documents that focus on the issues of slavery and civil rights throughout the nation's history. The readings are long, but extremely rewarding. It is very important to complete the readings, but it is also very easy to do so if you enjoy the content; I would often spend hours on the readings, and yet I would view it as something to look forward to. Completing this class was very rewarding, and I felt like I was much more informed about how our political institutions were intended to operate.