Professor: Beeman Course format: Lecture w/section Number of respondents: 56 Total Enrollment: 85 Class Composition: Froshs: 49 Sophs: 22 Jrs: 6 Srs: 7 Concs: 4 Non-Concs: 33 Don't Know: 19

Instructor Average: 2.53 Course Average: 2.01

Why can you understand the words that are coming out of this page? It’s probably because you and I have reached a mutual level of communication needed for people to survive. With this in mind, “Sound and Symbols: Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology” explores the different forms of communication over a broad range of peoples, areas, and ideas, as well as the evolutionary development of linguistics. Though no prerequisites are listed for this course, students claimed a background in cultural studies was helpful.

Most respondents were not at all keen on Professor Beeman. Besides being ten minutes late to nearly every class, students claimed the professor’s teaching technique was not appreciated. Reviewers claimed the professor’s lectures were haphazard, redundant, and of a rambling nature. In addition, many students stated Professor Beeman would go off on too many tangents during class, and that he would often find his excessive jokes to be a little too amusing. Also, many respondents said they found the numerous films on chimpanzees’ potential ability to talk as a definite overkill.

The course work consisted of one midterm, one final, and two papers. In addition, there was quite a heavy reading load. Many students had their own varying preferences of useful and not-so-useful books, but a majority felt most of the books (as well as the textbook) were effective in explaining concepts relevant to the course. Some students, however, wished the professor had discussed more, if not all, of the books in class.

Students generally put in a large amount of effort into this course, with most reviewers claiming to work between four to eight hours per week. In the overall perspective, many students suggested avoiding this class and only recommended enrolling if you can keep up with the heavy reading load, if you can tolerate lots of films about chimps, and if you can stand what one student called an “aggravating” professor.

View AN/0080 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.