Vadim Shkolnikov

i have mixed feelings. to be transparent, more than half the class dropped him for the next semester, and will i understand why, i don't think it necessarily is wholly his fault. most first-years take lithum and just want to pass with an easy a—no judgement, people have different priorities—and vadim makes it clear from the beginning that this isn't a class you can just bullshit. he's clearly well-informed in his field and has lots of experience with literary analysis (especially psychoanalysis, he LOVES lacan) but it feels at times that he expects graduate student level answers from a freshman year class. it wasn't that big of a struggle for me, but i do have a strong background in literary analysis, and his teaching style is very classic lecture-y & a lot of the class discussions are talking at him trying to guess what he wants us to think about the text. i think the perspective he brings to the class is an interesting one, but he's clearly a product of his environment and once you catch on his analyses tend to all be the typical atheistic, western academic one it gets a bit boring (if that's your cup of tea, go for it. i just am particularly bored with Academia in general). the class itself prioritizes close reading and he emphasizes how this is key to succeeding but i ended the class with an A and ive skimmed a couple of texts. he lets you revise your essays, so the majori…

Vadim lacks the enthusiams needed to make a language class interesting. He knows his Russian, but his explainations fall short of satisfying anyone with even the slightest interest in linguistics. To his credit, he does grade the homework, but his comments are not helpful. He only marks what is wrong, not why it is wrong. His classes are not worthless but there are so many better professors in the Slavic language department who are passionate about the language. If you are in his section, you may want to try shopping around a bit more.

Wow! I learned a great deal about film terminology and the techniques used in film. I also found Russian Cinema from the beginnings of Socialism to the present day a fascinating and illuminating course.

A good teacher. He's good for grammar, and is pretty clear on it himself. He speaks as a native, but teaches as an American, the best of both worlds. He's not a stickler for pronunciation but just wants you to open your mouth, but that can get difficult since he's pretty shy himself. He makes a supreme effort to improve his class continually, and takes suggestions serioulsy. He gradually incorporated more interactive learning methods-movies, tapes, radio, Tv, literature. It became really fun, and our class bonded.

I enjoyed my classmates and learned from mostly from them . However, the class itself often made people feel as though our opinions were wrong and as a result suppressed class involvement could be seen. See below for more information.

I learned about film, the Soviet Union's time line, the general publics outlook of the politics at the time, cinematography.

A significant amount about Russian film history and cultural history.

Excellent course for anyone interested in Slavic studies or interested in Russian film.

You had to be super interested in Russian film to really enjoy it. Not a critique just my observations.

Vadim is a highly intelligent man who respects civil discourse that is backed up with evidence. He is opinionated and welcoming to the student's views. This is what makes writing his essays so fun, they're very open ended. I don't love the presentations he makes us do, but they're a nice break from the normal pace of things. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2023 Course: RUSSGU4155_001_2023_1-HISTOFRUSSIAN/SOVIETFILM : RUSSGU4155_001_2023_1 - HIST OF RUSSIAN/SOVIET FILM Instructor: Vadim Shkolnikov