Arturo Arias

Incredible teacher, and she is awsome grading. Recommeded to take at all costs, yo will get an A absolutely for sure!

Mr. Arias is an excellent teacher. He's enthusiastic, challenging, extremely knowledgable, blessedly organized, and very accessible. He can be a bit intimidating but he is actually really sweet and friendly, just I think, a little shy. I learned a great deal and have a firm grasp on some of the major schools of thought over the past 200 years. He really puts philosophy and the philosophers in historical context and makes the material come alive. You must do the reading - don't expect him to explain it all for you - besides, you will be surprised at how much you can understand on your own. I would recommend having a strong interest in learning about philosophy, art, or history. The reading can be tough but incredibly worth it.

Prof. Arias is a great teacher. He is very nice to his students and goes to great lengths if someone is having a hard time grasping the material. His tests were fair: if you know the books and movies you'll do great. The best part was the final creative project. He gave us complete control over what we wanted to express in whatever medium we wanted. I learned alot from the books we read, erotic classics. The reader isn't really necessary, so if you want to save yourself some money, don't bother with it. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in the world of erotic literature in the vein of Anais Nin, Venus in Furs, and The Lover, just to mention a few.

Professor Arias is one of the BEST professors I've had @ SFSU. HUM390 has proven to be a worthwhile course, as I have learned so much more about literature and movies. I thought the class would be just slides and tests on certains aspects, but it turned out to be much, much more. There is a heavy demand on reading(course reader and five short novels). Both the midterm and final are short essay form which, if you go to class and comprehend the lecture, you are sure to do well. The class is rather large, but Arias always welcomes comments/questions. Ther eis also a final project of some sort....he was really open to students' creative energies. I enjoyed the class, but wasn't prepared for the amount of dedication I would have to put into it. However, I recommend this course to anyone who has an appreciation for the humanities/lieratures/cinema.

Well, I'm one of those business majors who actually liked professor Arias even if i didn't always understand him. But we have to be fair. First, he teaches "Images of Eroticism." A lot of students come to this class thinking it's just fun, or kinky, or something. They are actually surprised they have to read books, and criticism, and stuff like that. They start complaining immediately. Then, the class is enormous. In a huge auditorium. Even if professor Arias uses a microphone, it's hard to hear in the back. The auditorium is lousy, and on top of that, all the boring studients are in the back, chatting, asking things like "What did he just say?" and things like that. They're distracting. And then, the Humanities students, who worship him, all sit up front, and ask really hard questions that none of us understand. So, he's trying to lecture to everyone, but has to answer his Humanities students in theoretical terms, and then he loses the rest of us. What I did, however, was move to the front row, and start asking the Humanities students about the stuff. They are nice people. They also told me professor Arias is really famous, one of the few stars that SFSU has nationally, and that we were lucky to have him. It was easier to follow class from the front row, and we made eye contact, and I even dared ask a few questions, and we connected. He always tried to explain things to me in a language I could understand, and encouraged me to further my studies. He also criticized a Humanities student who made fun of the fact I had no clue who Tolstoy was. He explained how everyone had a right to be different, and we had to respect that. He's cool. He was generous with his grades, and I will be too.

Professor Arias is a brilliant lecturer. He does a great job of interpreting material that at times is very hard to understand. His lectures are very good at going over the readings. His examples are very good, making hard stuff easy to understand and relate to. He is clear, concise, and teaches important issues. He is also very approachable, and willing to help out with any problems the student might have. I don't know what to add that would make his teaching any better, except perhaps to note that I disagree with people who complain about his accent. I think those are only lazy, racist students who do that. His English is excellent for someone who is not an American native. He speaks more clearly than the great majority of students on this campus. It is true, however, that people who are not Humanities majors might have trouble understanding the theories he is talking about, but that is not his fault. Humanities majors want him to talk like that, to explain Foucault, to explain gender issues, to explain postmodernism. But, sometimes, students who are not Humanities majors simply don't know these issues, and justify their ignorance by arguing that he talks over their heads, or is too hard, which seems like a copout to most Humanities students who want him to be just the way he is, and want more professors like him.

Professor Arias is an extremely engaging individual who seems to synthesize vast schools of knowledge into a clearly concise picture with ease. His lectures are fascinating and he has a knack for bringing abstract theories into easily understood concrete examples. This course has opened up other arenas of knowledge for me, giving me a reference and a better understanding of the dialogue that shape our world. Highly recommended. He's funny with students, and his accent is not an issue. People who complain about it are usually racist against Latinos. Most foreign students in this campus have worse accents.

Professor Arias is the best for students who love the humanities, and care about critical theory. He's not good for business majors, or people who come from other colleges, because he always assumes you have the ability to think, and a minimal cultural background, i.e. you know at least the names of the classics, you have at least a sense of the historical evolution of Europe and the West, you minimally know how many continents there are. In other words, he respects students by respecting their maturity and their ability to think. He will not spoon-feed high school info to college students, but will encourage college students to push themselves to the limit. Some of his students have ended up in Ph.D. programs at Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, because he has made them believe in themselves and in their own talent. Again, people looking for three simple credit units to snooze through, need not apply.

Professor Arias was among the most challenging instructors I've had at SFSU - he challenged both my intellect and my former beliefs and invariably made significant shanges in both. I am a senior majoring in the Humanities. Course 302 is geared toward the thoughtful and probing mind; not for anyone seeking an easy grade nor for oversimplification. The material is difficult to grasp but well worth the effort of doing so. The course required a reader plus 3 textbooks. The reader is made up of primary sources and, as such, are often difficult to understand. The texts were quite useful - indeed, I have referred to them periodically for producing papers for other Humanities and Women Studies classes. He gave 2 essay type exams which were among the most difficult I've yet to take. We also wrote a final paper - about 15-20 pages in length - applying the theories and metholodologies learned in class. Homework consisted of reading and all of the reading was covered in lecture. He has a marvelous grasp of the subject matter and I found his accent delightful and easily understandable - the fact that he speaks at least 3 languages was a bonus - we actualy learned terminology using the proper language. The only rough spot the entire semester was when the TA "lectured" in his absence on one ocassion and when she attempted to conduct a study session. She had limited knowledge of the subject matter (some of us had a far greater grasp than she) and was of little value. I recommend Arias to any serious student who wants more than just a diploma.

Prof Arias is an outstanding teacher. I thought his lectures were very informative and interesting. After taking this class, I understood concepts about theory that are very difficult to grasp. His lectures were very clear. Yes, he is a difficult grader, but why are we here? I learned a lot in this class and would recommend it highl to anyone interested in theory. Also, I don't think his accent is so strong that you can not understand him.

Professor Arturo Arias is a wonderful lecturer (probably the best lecturer I've heard at SFSU and I am a senior who has taken classes in various departments). Not only does he have an amazing amount of knowledge in the Humanities and the Arts, but he intergrates many forms of media into his lecture- slides, film. If you like to read and appreciate cultural diversity and "transgression" you would like this challenging and rewarding class. Professor Arias requires a midterm and final exam in essay and short identification format as well as one project in which you can choose to either write a paper or submit a work of art in your media of strength. Students submit sculpture, photography portfolios, and videos which we watch in class. Not only does he speak well (I had no problems understanding him), he makes an unusual effort to answer student's questions in a large lecture class. My vocabulary has noticibly expanded after listening to his lectures. Some of the material in His reader is difficult to understand if you reading skill and vocabulary is still at high school level (this I notice of too many students @ SFSU who then have the nerve to say they can't understand someone's vocab or accent).

Prof. Arias was a terrible teacher. I can never understand his lectures because of his accent. He gives you a bunch of books to read and doesnt do a great job in going over the text with you. His reader had NOTHING to do with his tests(It was a WASTE of my money). He is very unfriendly to his students. It seem like his TA did most of the work. I would not recomend him for any classes.

Arias is one of the worst teachers I have had at SFSU. He seems really out of touch with the students and the fact that we have up to three or four other classes. He also relies very heavily on electronic aids (like the machine that lets you put web pages on the movie screen) when these don't work, the class grinds to a halt. He also relies far too heavily on his TA's. Roumour has it that they are the ones that do much of the work, so if you have Arias don't try to make friends with him, make friends with his TA, you'll be much better off. Also, his lectures can be difficult to understand because of his accent, which is kind of thick.

Prof. Arias is a good lecturer but he does not seem to really care about his students. The exams were difficult because he did not explain the subject enough.He also did not seem to really care about we had to say. I liked doing the second paper in which we applied a theory to a book or film but I did not find his that helful in explaining what he wanted.