Henry Perry

Now now, don't get too flustrated...this goes out to the other person who posted a review of Perry, and got their panties all bunched up.

People can't handle this activities instructor simply due to the fact that he treats his class as a SERIOUS, REAL class.

Guess what folks, the days of 'activities' classes being nice little easy A's are OVER! Rightfully so!

You gotta realize, exercise is no longer stigmatized like that. Perry takes his career as a fitness instructor seriously!

So, the bottom line--you can't screw around with your girlfriends. You can't show up half-an-hour late and not expect to get called on it. You can't cheese out! Deal with it!

As for his alleged sexism, I'm not suprised that the "sexism card" gets branded so fast, when somebody dares to call you out on that fact that you are a wimp who can't do a pushup, and you are female! He never, ever did anything besides insist females can do pushups. That's why a requirement to pass aerobics is that you have to do 5 pushups. Period!

In the sake of fairness, however, I must admit his written tests need some serious proofreading and fixing before they are handed out.

Don't take this class with Perry.

His attendance policy for students is incredibly stringent--miss more than three classes and 4 points will be deducted for each subsequent absence--yet he himself cancelled class no less than three times this semester. (The class only meets two hours per week.)

His grading policy is ridiculous. In any other class, 90%-94% would equal an A/A-, but not in Perry's mind. If your point value equals the above percentages, you'll be getting a B.

You'll become really good at jumping jacks and pushups--he's a really big fan of them--but nothing else. His method of teaching students proper weight lifting form is to demonstrate an exercise quickly, barely mention what muscle groups are benefitted by the exercise, and then expect the class to have it down pat. Don't ask him to demonstrate anything a second time, either, unless you want an earful about how college is not like high school, you have to pay attention, you can't just skate by in college. In the next breath, he'll then proceed to say that his class is a learning environment and that all questions are welcomed and encouraged. Right.

If you're a woman, as I am, and plan to take the class, be prepared to be insulted by his sexist assumptions about women and exercise. He assumes that women can't do "real" pushups or pullups.

He won't let anyone make up any tests or quizzes, even though he usually announces them the day he gives them, so if you happen to be absent because you've injured yourself in his class, as I did, too bad. To quote him: "These are the rules."

Don't follow his syllabus unless you want to be confused. All his policies are subject to change at his whim, and he's pretty moody. He claims to have a master's in kinesiology, but he can barely write a sentence and malapropisms were frequent in his "lectures", if they can be called that. One quiz he assigned was so poorly written that I wasn't sure what some of the questions were asking and I don't think he was, either.

In general, I think his opinion of students is pretty low. We were frequently upbraided for what he perceived to be laziness, when in fact most of the class was simply confused.

He doesn't list office hours or a phone number on his syllabus. Office hours must be arranged with him at his convenience.

If you're a beginner and interested in weight training, take Paula Moran.