PLCP 3630

The class might seem a little daunting because it is a higher level politics course, but you do not need to be a politics major to handle it. A lot of the readings are history heavy. The class is split into two topics- India for a few weeks and then Pakistan. The beginning weeks focuses on democracy and government as a whole so you get the background info before diving in. Every week there is about 100-200 pages of readings, which can be a lot. You also need to submit a discussion post every class, a discussion question and a discussion response every week. There is a midterm paper and final paper. There is a group project as well where you are assigned a 6 person group, split into groups of three, and research a topic of your choosing, in India and Pakistan. Then you come together and make a presentation which is presented on the last day of class. The professor is knowledgeable, he has been teaching this course for a number of years. Some classes he lectures a lot, there is always a powerpoint, which he uploads online for us. Sometimes he ends up on unrelated tangents, which makes the class boring and hard to sit through. Some days he has us discuss amongst our tables or as a whole class the readings or questions he has prepared. Personally, I prefer when he is lecturing as I feel I learn the most then. I would not have had any problem with the class if it was just like this as he is a sweet man, but his TA, Tolu, is insufferable. She does the grading and is very strict and scathing. We were told at the beginning of the semester that our discussion posts would be graded and our grades released every few weeks, but this did not happen. By the end of the semester, we had only about 3 discussion posts, all from September, graded. Our midterms were graded harshly as well. I do not think I will be getting an A in this class simply because the TA seems to have a strict criteria which she grades us on. Also participation is graded, we have to sign in every class and the TA occasionally walks around the room making sure we are paying attention and not doing other stuff on our laptops. I would only recommend taking this course if the professor gets a new TA. #tCFF23

I was really disappointed with this class. The course material was very interesting, but the overwhelming amount of readings made this class hard to enjoy. For the group project, students are supposed to be assigned into groups of 5, and the group of 5 is supposed to be divided into two groups for compare/contrast-style project. However, Prof. Echeverri-Gent assigned me to a group where two of the members received exemptions, so three people had to do the work of five. I would have been fine with this except for the fact that he knew this when he assigned the groups but failed to notify me or any of my other group members. Had I not reached out to those two people (one of them didn't even respond or come to lecture) I would have no clue what was going on. I then reached out to the professor and he responded by sending an apathetic email basically saying that he did not care that about our situation and that we still had to do all of the work despite only having 3 group members. He then criticized my component of the project (I did Pakistan all by myself, and the other two group members split India) for being too short, and from then on I feel like he always was out to get me. His feedback was not helpful and when compared to the TA's comments, seemed liked the two had not graded the same project. Unfortunately the infuriating aspects of the class and this professor in my opinion outweigh the redeeming qualities. I would not take this class. #tCF2020

Echeverri-Gent is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the material covered in this class (which also includes Afghanistan, not part of the official title). His lectures are a bit dry, but really insightful if you can get passed that. He does a good job of making sure it's not 100% lecture by soliciting opinions and thoughts from the class, though for some topics he could've lectured a bit more rather than letting students break into groups to discuss things they didn't know much about. There's a group project which unfortunately entails writing a group essay. Graded very hard, even homeworks, and sometimes expectations might be a little too high. Ultimately, Echeverri-Gent is very enthusiastic, helpful and resourceful and is very dedicated to helping students improve if they take initiative. The class itself covers India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, each comprising 1/3 of the course, and emphasizes a comparative perspective throughout.

Very interesting class. Need to do the readings and go to lecture. Two 5 page papers, a presentation and one large research paper.

Lectures are very boring. Papers are graded quite hard (difficult to get an A).

Echeverri-Gent is a good and very knowledgable professor. The class can get a little dry at times, but it is an exciting area of the world to learn about. The reading is a LOT but the class format is mostly papers and one partner presentation, so you don't have to keep up with the reading as long as you go back and be sure to include references to the reading in your papers.