John Kay

Prof. Kay has to be the most boring teacher on campus! If you must take PHIL 110 to fufill the GE requirement, pick another teacher for your sanity. I felt like committing suicide every class meeting. I would purposly sit in the back of the class, so Prof. Kay would not see me falling asleep. I felt bad for him in a way, because the class had no input in tedious discussions. It seemed like he was only teaching the 3 students with comments that sat in the front of the class. The class isn't that hard, we review homework for at least a couple of days. The homework seems so stupid and purposeless. I would fail a lot of the tests because I would put too much thought into answers. I thought I would fail the class, and ended up getting a B, I don't know how that happened! Stay away from this old man, if you can.

i took him my 1st sem. of Frosh year... and don't take philosophy if you are NOT good at writing!! i had the hardest time understanding what the hell he was teaching which showed when i took the tests/quizes. i realized i couldn't roll with philosophy..so i just did CR/NC and surprissingly enuff i got CR for it. philosophy is more for people who are good at BSing papers n what not... (i'm not a good BSer on papers, i actally have to do the work and research). He is one OLD OLD OLD man, nice... but BORING and like one of the reviews said, do NOT take his class in the morning or else, u will really fall asleep/get so drowsy.. but yeah, he's nice, tells you what u did wrong on your papers (that helped), and fairly patient.

Professor Kay is a smart man, don't get me wrong! However, DO NOT take his morning classes! It was so difficult to stay awake in that class; his voice is so monotone that it literally puts you to sleep. But the man is a good teacher, nonetheless. The times I was awake in that class, I understood what he was talking about, and his lectures always apply to the homework. He is very extensive in going over the bookwork, so you can always get work done in time. The tests are very simple as long as you pay attention to the preview sessions and do the homework. Not a hard class but not the most fun either.

It's guaranteed you'll lose attention in 20 minutes - his lecture is redundant, tedious and boring. He turns down any viewpoint other than his. He spends 2 full class time (1 hour each) on ONE exercise problem, when he assigns at least 15 and goes through all. Things learned not very useful or helpful, although to be fair, new things are showed. And he's very available outside class, although even on a one-on-one basis you'd still get confused and lose your attention.

if you are looking to put little to no effort into a class, this is the one for you. homework can be finished in 30 minutes the night before it is collected, the tests are open-note, and since all he does is go on ridiculously long tangents about what you can learn from the book, you can skip a good number of classes. he is REAL boring to listen to. i am warning you.

man this teacher is extremely boring...this teacher makes you not want to go to class and have a good reason for not going...bad lectures...in my class he talked to one student for the whole hour literally one student...he takes attendence every day and it's really important...foreal it plays a important part of the grading...i can say though the only good thing about his class is that all the quizes we had were all take home...that's the only plus

Prof Kay is a very understanding and kind man. i'm currently enrolled in this class and it's april 12th, and boy i must agree with the rest of the guys that say his class is BORING! i've never been one to walk out of class, but i've started walking out of his. theres only 3 papers to write in this class which count for 25% of your grade each, and if you summerize the book like i did on the 1st paper he'll give you a C and the final 25% comes from doing a presentation in front of the class on a chapter from 1 of the 2 books that are damn complicated to read, where he gives you a list of questions and you answer it in class, after that you have to write a synopsis where youbasically type up the answers to each one of the questions from his list. Thats it!!

Professor Kay is a very kind and extremely knowledgable of his subject. He repeats explanations up to hundred times per class period but that benefits you at the end. If he says you are going to get what he's talking about by a certain date you will! He explains every single quiz that he's going to give you thoroughly before the quiz. Two pretty hard assignments are writing assignments that might confuse you a lot. To get a good grade in the class you got to show up, pay attention, speak up, and may be even come to his office hours.

Extremely tough class. The texts he chooses are very difficult to understand. The basic structure of the class is that you're put into groups of 3-4 people and are assigned certain pages from the text as well as a presentation date. When your date comes up, you and your group "teach" the class the material from those pages. The idea doesn't exactly work in a philosophy class because first of all, the book is complex and second of all, there are many interpretations. I learned more from just reading and re-reading the books on my own, rather than listening to the presentations. Anyway, Prof. Kay is a nice man, he's pretty flexible on due dates, etc, it's just that the class is quite hard and the presentations sometimes get boring. He takes roll occassionally, but it's not as important to attend class once you're done w/your presentation. Don't get me wrong though, I was surprised how much I actually learned even though the books are so hard to comprehend at first...

Prof. Kay is not only the kindest man at SFSU, but a very boring as well. He is very understanding, knowledgable of the subject, and very helpful. Philo. itself is very boring maybe that is the reason why I thought he himself was boring. He gives you open notes and book exams about every other week. He is a very nice guy!

He couldn't teach the class of what the real essence of taking this Phillosophy class. I was lost after I was done with a long semester with him. His class was boring. It seems to me that he was murmuring in front of the class with some students who knowed the topics he's talking about at that moment. His exams were difficult for me, and I thought he didn't grade us fairly. He never accepted any other arguments rather than his. I didn't agree to that kind of view. In my opinion, he had to accept some arguments even though if they didn't meet his concept. That's why we're in this "Philosophy" class, right? To broaden our way of thinking, the issue of life! But, why we can say our arguments out loud....finally, not accepted?? Is it has to be the same with what he's thinking?? How about our point of view? How about our way of thinking? I think he didn't grade fairly, and he discriminated against some people who didn't participate a lot in his class. Even though he's looked so generous in class, and looked really understanding, but I don't know! You still can talk to him. But, How do you feel about him?

Dr. kay is an excellent lecturer. The class is interesting and it really got my brain going! I have to say that my opinion of him is especially influenced by his kind graciousness he showed me last semester. I had some serious personal problems halfway through the semester and I wasn't able to turn in the midterm or final papers. But, I had scored strong A's on the first two tests. I emailed him the night before the final and told him what was up and asked for an 'I' on the plan that I would retake it the next semester for my segment 3. He was kind enough to grant that wish. But when I got my report card, he gave me a D+, which was very smart on his part. Basically, I think he was saying "you did well enough to pass this class, and if you want to take it again and raise your grade, it's up to you." I would have retaken the class this semester, but I had no room in my schedule. Take the class and if you put in a good effort, he will grade you fairly.