William De Bary

I really wanted and expected to love this class. Professor de Bary sounded like an incredible guy, and the opportunity to learn and discuss East Asian literature with one of the foremost scholars in the field in a small seminar seemed like an incredible opportunity. And, though I continued to love the class in theory, in practice it was quite disappointing. De Bary does know a lot about that which he teaches, and his age rarely shows. He is sharp, lucid, and does a good job of explaining the literature. I enjoyed his insights for the first few classes. This is supposed to be a discussion class, however, and people rarely spoke. De Bary is intimidating to even the most fearless students and it often seems like he is not really listening to what you are saying. He never quite agrees with your comments of insights. There are no grades given in the class until you receive your final grade at the end of the semester. The only indication of how you're doing in the class before you receive your final grade is the professor and TA's comments on the first of two papers, due halfway through the term. The final exam is a frightening experience, a twenty-minute interview with de Bary and the TA during which you're asked to discuss a theme in reference to the texts read throughout the semester. It seems like most people end up doing pretty well in the class, but don't learn very much or ap…

This term was actually smooth because we had no TA. It was nice not going on courseworks every week or talking in discussion. But he had some favorites who sat in the front and raised their hands all the time. I guess it's not really important to read the assigned readings for the midterm because it's just IDs and one essay. You can look them up on en.wikipedia.org instead of reading the text. But for the final, you have to start reading because there are difficult ID passages. He loves Mencius, Confucius, and Xunzi, so beware. His final was hard because some of the material was from the midterm and he listed IDs that were about books. As for his lectures, he is very dry and boring. I suggest to still go to lectures to know what's going on. He is very intimidating and arrogant, so don't bother going to his office hours unless if it's necessary.

Professor DeBary may be old and a little hard of hearing at times, but he knows the material forwards and backwards. He begins each class with an introduction to the following week's reading and then has a couple of students present on the current week's reading before opening up the room to class discussion. Prof. DeBary does a good job trying to cover the major points from these huge and unfamiliar (to most of us) texts. However, the class discussions often lack direction. Professor DeBary may make the connection between one person's comment and the text, but that doesn't mean the class always gets it, and this is where the class begins to get frustrating. Prof. DeBary can also be a little intimidating at first, but if you show a genuine interest in the material (i.e. you actually do the reading), the class can be very rewarding. Overall, though, this class is a very good introduction to these texts, and if Professor DeBary can be blamed for anything, it is for trying to cover too much in such a short time period. As to DeBary's supposedly mysoginistic tendencies, I think these allegations are totally unfounded. The simple truth is that many of these ancient texts do not explicitly focus on women or discuss their subordinate status in society. This is essentially a literature course and thus, it seems unreasonable to expect Prof. DeBary to spend what little time we have in c…

This class has the potential to be one of the most interesting classes you'll ever take. All of the major middle-eastern religions are covered with one of the most learned professors in the world. But, he's really boring. He's over 80 years old and has been teaching this class for almost as long. One advantage is he knows more than anybody else you could hope to teach you. And even with all that experience, he's still willing to admit when he doesn't know something. On the other hand, his classes have little variety. He teaches them all the same way. Some classes developed into some interesting discussions, but most of the time you got the feeling that only a few people did (or understood) the reading and could participate in discussions. It wasn't till the end of the semester, when i went back and redid most of the readings, did I realize how great the class really was. All you have to do is take a look at the reading list to get an idea of what will be covered. And if you are willing to put in the work and keep up with the readings, you'll get a chance to discuss the texts with one of the most famous professors in the field.

Professor de Bary is not as bad as these reviews make him out to be. He's actually pretty laid back (doesn't care if you skip class or want to turn in papers late). Having said that, he doesn't teach. He needs other professors to enter and teach for him, and he spends the majority of the class listening to his students' opinions. He doesn't lecture; he simply entertains everything and doesn't say anything during class. He's a nice guy actually, but this class is frustrating simply because you don't learn anything directly from him. Another reason it's frustrating is because he doesn't grade anything. While this is nice on one end, it's nervewracking because you have no idea what your grade is going into the final exam. You don't know if you're doing well or poorly, and he has no interest in letting you know. Having said that, he's not a bad guy, certainly not the way these reviews have made him out to be.

The review made on the 22 December 2004 states, "Nothing to worry about if you keep up with the readings". Let me begin my review by saying the "keeping up with the readings" is like keeping up with an airplane. There is often, no joke, 300 - 400 pages of reading per week, which when combined with other reading intensive classes, gets very impossible very quickly. So, after giving up on the reading, I looked toward paying extra close attention in class. Professor deBary's dry lecture style didn't really help. His knowledge of East Asian culture and history is so vast that he lectures as if he's reading out of a textbook. I fully blame my coffee addiction on having to chug two large coffees before each class just to stay up for the first half of the class. Keep in mind that the TAs of the class will decide your grade and not Prof. deBary. This is VERY important because if you have a really tough TA, you're screwed for the class. What kills me is that Prof. deBary seems like such an interesting guy, but unless you have a good deal of time to go to office hours and really do the reading, you don't get a good picture of East Asia or deBary himself.

Professor Wm Theodore de Bary may be a throwback to yesteryear, but he is no fossil. His sharp eyes will spend the first two weeks of class picking out the intellectually inferior, and he won't hesitate to cut them off for the rest of the semester. Some professors tolerate self-important fools- de Bary is not one of those professors. His reading assignments rival those of Lit-hum, and the classes do tend to drag (especially in the second hour); however, it isn't necessary to read many of the books. Just listen to the person presenting in class (if they do a decent job), or to de Bary's response (if they don't), and you'll get the gist of the works. Having said that, there are quite a few books worth reading ("al Hallaj" and "Monkey" spring to mind). Grading is not tough; neither de Bary or the TA mark the papers, and the final exam is an oral discussion. I took the year-long sequence and enjoyed it immensely. I highly recommend it to anyone who can tolerate an hour of boredom per week.

Prof. de Bary is an old-school prof.- he knows what he's talking about and doesn't hesitate to cut off a student who doesn't really know what he/she is talking about. That is not a bad thing. Since most students in the class have very little prior knowledge or understanding of Asian cultural traditions, Prof. de Bary doesn't allow people to make rash assumptions or relations to the Western traditions. You can get a lot out of this course without doing a lot of work.

HATED this class. The books we read are great, but I think the Professor is boring, mean, and condescending. The reading list long, which is expected, but the discussion (if you could call deBary going on and on while knowing exactly what he wants students to say discussion) was horrible. Nothing in the class is graded - you have no idea how you are doing until after you've gotten your final grade online. The best part of class was it ended after a long 2 hours. Avoid if you can. Or P/F it.

De Bary is not the most invigorating lecturer, but then again, he's probably reciting from heart the same lectures he's been giving for the past fifty years. His academic interest lies in Neo-Confucianism, which, along with other Asian philosophies like certain arcane strands of Buddhism, he will devote a lot of time and attention. Unless you spend years trying to understand these texts, you won't. Just accept it. What impressed me most about de Bary, however, is his depth of knowledge and his commitment to comprehending all that he can, even at the age of 85. And his many experiences and almost fanatical committment to Columbia College (he's missed 2 football games due to illness since he returned from World War II). Go to his office hours. Talk to him. His class is as much about him and his experiences as it is about the material.