YOU CAN'T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME. The written comments from my Government and Business class have come in, and it's what you'd expect of economics. On one hand,

Test did not really go w/lecture and hard to follow the lecture.

On the other,

I think the quizzes are good practice for the exams. Lecture goes well
w/book.

The course structure provokes the same diversity.

The readings were difficult and hard to understand. The test and assignments made me feel like I was in a philosophy class not econ.

On the other hand,

I had a great time. Love the open forum and encouraging students to participate.

Different learning styles? I sometimes get requests to make things more "cut and dry." It's "cut and dried," and neither legislation nor econometric estimates, the stuff behind the policy analysis, lend themselves to that description. Bruised and bleeding is more like it.

Some comments are more provocative.

Remember that we are only college students when grading!

The anonymous nature of these evaluations makes a response difficult. Is this a statement that the work is excessively, or insufficiently, daunting? Likewise, this one.

Mr Karlson is an okay professor. I don't entirely like his teaching method, but I can't say if he should change it. I'm switching majors also. I've realized I should have majored in Business. So, that's what I'm going to do. This course is responsible for me switching majors.

That anonymity again. Did somebody discover economics was not his cup of tea, or did one of several individuals who was enrolled as some other liberal arts field or engineering or allied health (I teach 'em all) find a vocation?

Then there's the fan club.

Professor Karlson is an incredible teacher!

(Blushing.) The senior-level antitrust class yielded similar kind words. That class posed a greater challenge for me ... I had more than the usual proportion of Thursday skippers, particularly on nice days (yes, we do get them at the 42nd parallel) but without some sort of reaction from them (the evaluation was on a Tuesday) there's little I can think about doing differently.