Reviews of professor David-James Gonzales

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I can honestly say this class singlehandedly convinced me to change my major from history to chemistry. Gonzales is one of the dullest lecturers I've ever had, assigns inordinate amounts of reading, and skipped over massive parts of history like both world wars and the civil rights movement. A few thousand lectures about immigration, however.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I was very frustrated by Dr. Gonzalez's teaching style and class format. Lectures were completely unrelated to assignments, and the final project was unrelated to both. It also felt like a "controversial topics in American History" class and wasn't as broad as I hoped. He turned everything into a commentary on current politics with a biased view.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Professor Gonzales is such an incredible professor. Before his class I was considering switching my major, but his class is the reason I stayed. There's a lot of reading, but it's all interesting and meaningful. He really wants you to learn, not memorize. I've become more engaged in things that matter rather than passing a test. Take his classes!

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
History 221 with Dr. G is a great option, there are a lot of readings but they are interesting and there is very little homework. There aren't any tests, just 4 papers and a big final project/presentation. He is a great teacher who may get off topic a little in his lectures, but its a good class, and fairly easy to get a good grade.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
A very opinionated lecturer who uses his lectures as a soapbox to rant about race, feminism, economic inequality, and 'social justice'. He effectively uses his course as a way to get his students to produce Wikipedia articles about activists, minorities, and racial topics, and disfavors those who choose to write about something more neutral.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Honestly, after the first quiz, I didn't even go to class. Lectures were honestly pointless, the quizzes were also graded very harshly and they said "no arguing grades". Very vocal about his viewpoints which isn't inherently bad but feel like he got a bit off-topic sometimes because of it. Only big downside was the tough grading. The rest was fine.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
Professor Gonzales is awesome. This class was all about U.S. immigration, and it was fascinating. He is so knowledgable, and this class was kind of formatted like a book club, where we read books and talked about them in class. A couple of big assignments, but nothing too crazy.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Read 7 books in one semester (get the audiobook to save time). Had a few short 2-3 page essays and a final creative project. Dr. G rarely gave anyone less than 85% on an assignment. Most people were getting A's and A-'s. 3% of extra credit. Make sure to go talk to Dr. G during office hours to understand what he is looking for with assignments.