Ben Kobashigawa

I really enjoyed this class. The teacher really does know his subject material very well. I hear other students say how boring the class is and I could see their bored looks in the class. I have to say that it's not the teacher who is borning, it's because the students don't see the value of what is being taught and don't participate. History can be very dry, unless you see how it applies to you.

As someone who is white, (one of three in the class of 200), I was fasinated by the subject, because it was a part of history that has never been revealed to me before and that some would prefer for us not to know. I was very enlightend by the course. I also found it much more interesting than the normal U.S. History courses.

His test are very easy, and he allows people to work in groups. If someone does poorly in this class, it's truly their own fault. There are no trick questions and if you listen and read, you will do well.

He is soft spoken, but you can see him get excited when a student participates or ask a question. He really does care.

I'd like to begin by insisting that it is POSSIBLE to really enjoy this teacher and his class. If you want to learn from this teacher, SIT IN THE FRONT OF THE CLASSROOM WHERE YOU CAN HEAR HIM! He will tell you this at the beginning of the semester, but most ppl will sit in the back anyway, and he won't stop you beyond that. He is a very nice guy, and I would consider him to be a fair teacher as well. His class is very easy to pass (whoever said he is hard is full of it IMHO), I missed my oral final (not on purpose) and I still got a C despite accompanying lackluster quizzes and assignment scores. Perhaps he is TOO easy, but I certainly preferred a C to what it could have been in a more difficult teacher's class!

His strengths reside in his extensive knowledge of the subject matter and his non-intimidating nature, making it easy to ask questions or talk to him on an individual basis. As mentioned in a previous review, he will say hi to you outside of class and tries to learn everybodies names. He is also very easy, if this can be considered a positive.

Where he lacks in ability is in lecture. He has a quiet, soft, monotone voice and he always mumbles, and often takes long pauses with slow hypnotizing hand motions. If you are a serious student looking for an A, you will want to sit in the front of the class and listen really carefully. If you do so, it should be possible to understand him half of the time, but he still uses very advanced vocabulary and sometimes drifts off into topics that do not seem relevant and are therfore hard to follow, sort of like giving complicated directions to a tourist. If you are thinking of recording him during lecture, sit in the front and turn up the mic, although you may get some of the snoring that is consistently present in the back of the room. True to the previous reviews, Mr. Kabashibagi (as one of my friends call him) is INCREDIBLY BORING. He seems to enjoy himself though, as he often laughs at his own jokes (which usually nobody else even notices what he said because they are not paying attention), but he does seem SOMEWHAT passionate about what he teaches. Although he is not intimidating and welcomes questions (which I am sure you will have) I think some people will stop asking him questions after a while because he has a tendancy to answer them as though he is reciting an essay. He usually goes off into many seemingly irrelevant topics then after a while jumps back to the original question and provide a conclusion, sort of like how when you talk with your friends and one topic leads to another. He will ask questions to the class once in a while too, at which point there is usually a long pause because nobody knows what he is talking about or wasn't listening. I do not disrespect Mr. Kabashibagi's teaching style up to what I have mentioned, but I did really dislike how he occasionally starts a video at the beginning of the class then leaves and doesn't come back. Perhaps he was a better teacher when he was younger and full of energy and passion.

He does have a healthy quantity of assignments and quizzes, and they are relevant, but I would not call him extremely organized like one favorable review of him said. He is neither extremely organized nor disorganized, just comfortably organized. You would see him bicycling around campus quite often and he often wears a big cowboy like hat and always brings a cup of I assume coffee to the class (infact it seems like the same cup everyday) which kind of indicates he is a man of routine. What he will do is take a TINY sip from the cup once in a while during his lectures. Although I did not, I think some may be slightly annoyed by this.

About his xeroxes, I do not recall having trouble reading his handouts. Due to many reviews complaining about this, I simply assume that I did not notice due to my 20/20 vision and ignorantness for the handouts. To those complaining about the book that you have to go buy on Geary or how you have to make zillions of Xerox copies, his class is easy enough that you would hardley have to do that and still get a good grade. You could always talk to him about this situation as well and see what he thinks.

I will confirm that it is possible to get a 24.7 out of 30 in his class, hehehe=). I've gotten a similar score but mine was on a quiz, not on a essay.

My Opinions: Incredibly Boring? Yes Mumbles? Yes Nice and Fair? Yes Organized? Medium

Recommended: Judge for yourself

Where can I start? Well, this teacher has an incredible sense of favoritism that many people in class noticed. He despises active students who have different opinions than his, even when you say your opinions politely. It is as if he gets embarrassed, like you're questioning his authority or something. When he does ask a question, no one bothers to raise their hands, so... he will always call on his 3 or 4 favorite students (who seems to be the Japanese students who are majoring in some aspect of Ja. history!) So there's a hint...if you take this class just pretend you're a Japanese major and he'll probably favor you too! Lastly, he has this weird intricate way of grading your essays. He gives grades like "44.1, 44.3" It's so intricate that you don't know how the heck he decides to give someone a .2 from a .3. Oh well, I've never given anyone a bad review on this site, but if you have a great GPA and don't want to risk losing that, then take a different AAS teacher , one that actually respects peoples' opinions and makes classes more enjoyable.

Although I fully agree that his class works better than warm milk for the sleep deprived, I don't believe that he was all that bad. You don't have to do much in his class except show up and at least pretend to listen.

There isn't any homework and he gives an occasional 3-4 page short essay assignment. His tests are relatively easy because he gives you a study guide with all the topics he's going to test you on and the page number indicating the page where you can find the info in the book (which saves you from actually reading through the whole book). The one annoying thing about his tests, however, is that he gives you a study guide with a lot of topics to study BUT he only chooses 7 topics to actually test you on. It's easy for a person with a good memory or a person who is of Asian descent who has some knowledge of the immigration experiences of their family since the topics are pretty similar to those experiences.

He does assign a lot of reading but as I mentioned before you really don't have to read the book. However, he does assign articles on the Electronic Reserve for you to read and may be on the test. You can always read the articles on your computer (but it might fry your eyes!) but if you print the articles out it'll take a lot of paper! I highly suggest that if you plan to print the articles out, you should reserve a pack of printing paper specifically for this class. His group project is generally easy, you just have to write a 15 page report with your group and present it to the class (that is if he picks you, why he doesn't just make everyone go, I just don't know!). The final was similar to the quizzes except that it included a 2 page essay question.

But overall, his class is pretty easy and the only real challenge is staying awake.

The text he chooses to teach from is a good choice, however his lectures will put you to sleep. He's not very comforting and apporachable. The grading s fair. The projects and group works are so unenthusiastic, the hardest part is wanting to come to class and doing the actual work.

Ben Kobashigawa is a very nice guy! Honestly! And he really knows his stuff. That’s about everything good about him! He is, arguably the most boring man on the face of the earth. Sometimes the class is so silent he says something about Mongolian beef and then giggles to hint that he made a joke. Why doesn’t he record a laughtrack and bring a boombox to class! Another thing, hes a conservationalist, he always has a magical cup of coffee when he walks in the room which he pretends to drink out of every once in a while, because it never seems to run out. He uses one of those disposable coffee cups with a black lid and a thin red straw, and it always seems like the same cup…hmm.. He also prints the handouts on some crusty old ink presser and he probably never replaced the ink, because its so faint you’d swear it was supposed to be invisible ink. You have to shoot it with radiation and read it while it glows in the dark! His quiet, monotone, mumbling is just sooo sexy! I simply had to fall asleep every time! Not only is it his voice, but how he explain things that makes him such a genius of slumber enducement. Only a rocket scientist could understand the maze of scrumdidliumptious words that he makes up while he is explaining why philipinos eat peanuts on Christmas or whatever. When he asks a question the class stares at him like uhhh?? Usually all the students say is “Uhh…” since they don’t know what the heck hes talking about. Sometimes he comes into class, starts a video, says something like take notes, and then leaves! He is a nice guy really, but he is just so boring you need an incredible amount of will power to try to learn in this class. Occasionally though, he will bring up a interesting topic, and if you record what he is saying, you may be able to decode his speech when you get home. He does seem like he is speaking in French, but hes not toally jabbering, there is meaning to what he says. Unless you are in the class just for the credits (hes easy) you won’t want to take this class, but he is a nice guy, honest. He is just not naturally gifted to teach.

Excellent class, Topics of discussion are very interesting and you can learn a lot. His lectures might be a bit dry at times, but his tests are easy. Just take notes and do the reading and one should be able to get an A or B easily.

His class was well organized but unfortunately not as well presented. He's got a great personality though - very kind and approachable. What can I say - this guy knows his stuff and I think it's his cup of tea. You've just really gotta tell yourself to LISTEN to his lectures. Luckily, we had another project during the semester which really hyped up the interest in this subject by doing an alternate project. All in all - I would take another class with him.

I would recommend taking this instructor for eths 220 (to fulfill the AERM requirement) even though his lectures are kinda boring. The class is not that hard at all. He gave a couple of quizzes (take home ones) during the semester, but there was one (preannounce a week early) that was in class. These quizzes were based on the readings you would copy from the Reserve Book Room. I have to agree that you would have to photocopy a lot of articles from the RBR and it will cost you some more money in addition to buying a reader for this class. What's great about this class is that you don't have to worry about MIDTERMS! There are no midterms for this class, however, there is a final which consists of 6 multichoice/fill-in questions and an short essay question. Don't worry he'll give you all those questions and the short essay ahead of time so you can find the answers for them. The final is also based on the readings from the articles you would get from the reserve book room. The homework for this class is just reading all those articles. During the semester, there are two essays. The first essay you would do it on your own while the second one is a group essay. Although, as I said before, his lectures are boring, Prof. Kobashigawa does know his subject. It is sometimes hard to understand what he's talking about. But overall he's a good instructor.

KOBASHIGAWA IS REALLY A GOOD INSTRUCTOR!!! I know many people think his class is very dull and boring. However, he is a nice and kind gentleman who is able to listen to students and give reasonable grades. His class is not too hard and attendance is optional. We just need to do a few ethnic projects. I strongly recommend him for earning your AERM requirement. Trust me, you can make it!

I thought that was very generous of me to give this grade. Ok, of course he was nice..but what everybody else says, it's true! i had to spend megabucks at the RBR b/c i didn't want to stay there and read, then forget. LIKE i got a copycard b/c of this man!!! Copy after copy...luckily, i had a friend with me so we split the costs. So definitely take it with someone you know cuz you'll save a lot of money. In this course, there wasn't much work, i thought. Only 3 projects, sorta. One essay about yourself, another with a group, then lastly a term paper. He's a weird grader, but I got a decent one from him, so i'm not complaining. His final was easy too..His lectures were like, MAN!!!! I really, really wanted to stay awake, but boy was it hard.

He's a very nice teacher. I really liked him. He dresses weird (he prefers the kind of clothes you see at a Native Indian Museum bookstore or something), but he's nice person. He tries to save us money so he has his course reader printed at this cheap place by Coronet theater. This really shows he cares about students' finance. His class started at 8:00 AM and because he speaks very softly, I was asleep 90% of the time I was there, and later in the semester, I figured it's really the same as sleeping on my own bed (because I fall asleep in his class anyway) I stopped going to class, except to take exams. I still received a decent grade, and I thank him for that. But he could do something to get students involved in what's going on in class.

I really enjoyed Professor Kobashigawa. It's been a year since I have taken a class with him, but I do remember that he had a lot of assignments, but they pertained to the subject matter we learned in class. But his handouts were sometimes hard to read. I think he still uses a ditto machine. Other than that, he is very structured and organized. I liked that. Yes, he is enthusiastic about teaching. He grades kind of hard, but if you talk to him, he'll let you redo the assignment. I liked the fact that he knew everyone's name in class and even says hello outside of class. I would recommend this teacher.

um.........where do I start. He is a very nice guy! Okay now I can begin to criticize his teaching. The man is absolutely LAME. His teaching method can put the whole world to sleep. He mumbles and expects everyone to understand what he is saying. Grading system is so wierd!!!!!! I got like i.e. a 24.7/30! Where the hell did he get 0.7! It's an essay!!!! His handouts are made by a hand-cranked xerox machine. Half the time I'm going blind trying to read it! Man go to Kinko's! Him and his readings. He makes you go to the reserve bookroom. I don't mind because he wanted us to save money. Yeah right! His readings are so long you have to spend money xeroxing them. If you don't mind catching up on some zzzzzzzzzz go ahead and take him. Record him and use it as a substitute for warm milk! Other than that you won't learn much in his class. But an easy class!

I love this teacher. First, i had no idea what he was talking about because i can't hear him talked. Second, I got an extra hour of sleep everytime i went to his class. Third, his monotone voice is like music that put you to sleep. If you're deprived of sleep, then this teacher is perfect.

I'm sorry to give this grade to him..actually i want to give him a C, but i really don't want to lie..He is a nice teacher, but he is SUPER BORING!!!!!!! His lecture is very very unclear because of his low voice and tone...god when he talks and asks questions, nobody seems to be interested to answer or even didn't know if he is asking questions. Most people in his class are doing something else while he is lecturing...why? Because he is actually mumbling....it's not that he is a bad teacher, but he is just not the right teacher for ethnic study because i feel that those classes need to be more interesting...at least make students awake to listen his lecture..believe me, everyone is day-dreaming in his class....well...his presentation and projects are not too bad, and also the quzzies..if u just want to pass ETHS220 to fulfill GE, then u can take him, but if u want to have fun and learn more..he is not the right choice..

Prof. Kobashigawa knows his subject very well but he is very hard to understand. When you ask him a question he doesn't seem to answer it. He seems to keep everything in his head and assume we understand what he is talking about. Basically, his lectures are very unclear. His assignments are not clear because he uses a very poor xerox machine. His homework assignments are based on readings where you can only get at the Reserve Book Room. He made us copy all the material which cost a lot of money. You couldn't borrow the material so the only way to do the assignment was to either stay there or make copies of them. It takes too much time to make all those copies. We also had to purchase a book that was not available at the Bookstore. I had to go all the way to Geary to get it. His quizzes are mostly take-home and they are not hard. It is an interesting class though.