Diamantino Machado

School: Drexel University
Department: Sociology
Location:Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: Sometimes funny
Some interesting material
Cons: Cannot entertain divergent opinions
Often offensive humor
Condescending
This is my final year at Drexel, so I have had all kinds of professors -- good, bad, boring, exciting, insane, insightful, liberal, conservative, etc. -- but I had to drop his course.
As other reviewers have said, he is absolutely a die-hard Marxist and hater of US capitalism. This does not bother me; I've had professors with similar opinions that gave excellent, thought-provoking lectures...and most sociology professors are die-hard Marxists anyway. ;)
The reason that I cannot stand to spend another fifty minutes sitting in his class is because of his condescending attitude and (ironically) his blindness to all opinions but his own. He acts as if every student in his class is a blind Sunday school student from the 1950s who has no idea about the ~*dark side*~ of capitalism... (ooooh, controversial!) He can be funny, but also offensive: while claiming he is "not sexist," he refers to all female students as "young lady" and acts surprised if they can say anything insightful. While claiming he is "not racist," he still manages to make some 'politically incorrect' jokes that make everyone shift awkwardly in their seats.
By the way, I am not saying all of this because I am too lazy to do his assignments, or upset that he gave me a bad grade. On the contrary, I'm certain that anyone could easily get an A in his course, so long as you loyally regurgitate everything he says in lecture back to him on the exams.
If you actually value your education, though, and want a teacher who is smart but also open-minded to students' insights and opinions, then I would recommend avoiding Machado.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: No real homework
Cons: Sexist
Teaches his opinions
Deaf
Doesn't care about students
Says things that aren't politically correct
I got a 47% on the first exam even though I've never failed an exam in my life (which by the way each exam is 33% of the grade even though he assigned a paper that I assume didn't count for anything?). When I asked him about a question I got wrong (persistently I'll admit) he condescendingly called me young lady, said I was wasting his time and stormed off. Honestly I probably could've gotten a B in this class if I showed up to every class, read ALL three of the books and done all of the silly research homework assignments he springs up randomly. But instead I withdrew and it's been the best decision I've made this year.
He won't understand you or care if you have questions, doesn't respond to emails, is hard to understand because of his thick accent, and doesn't care about you as a person.
Granted, I added the class a little late. DONT ADD IT LATE. He will say "good luck" and even recommend you not add it which is ridiculous and won't help you catch up even if you try.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: A real eye opener. I'd pay double the amount of what I pay for other three credit courses to sit in one of Dr. Machado's class.
Cons: Classes are not interactive but so what? The whole point of going to class is to learn, and if that does not involve discussions, so be it.
First, a lot of people here accusing him of being a 'straight up commie', a 'straight of Marxist etc'. Tell you what - 10/15 years down the line, you will realize how misinformed you were when you wrote that down. Dr. Machado is a very caring professor. He brings his lifetime of experience, knowledge and tries to transmit it to the students because he is genuinelly concerned about the world out there. He wants the students to be aware of the world around, and provides facts as HOW THEY ARE, as opposed to HOW THEY SEEM TO BE. Don't get me wrong, I've studied in three continents, five countries, and Dr. Machado has to be one of THE best teachers I've ever had. He is one of the few professors who I will remember for a long long time, and whose classes I will miss. Please people, take his class at all cost! It is very informative, thought provoking, and worth twice more than what you pay for an ordinary class at Drexel. And, if you ever read this Dr. Machado, I just want to thank you for the brilliant job you've been doing. You look old and worn out, but the effort and passion you put into work will undoubtedly inspire many students. Btw, I'm not even done with the quarter (its week 8)
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: Easy if you take and study all the notes
Cons: Very opinionated
You probably shouldn't take him if you are a strongly political person. He's very heavily biased towards more European governmental styles and against the heavy US capitalism. If you can come in with an unbiased outlook you'll probably find the class fairly easy and occasionally interesting.
Test for 215 are entirely taken from the notes (so attendance or knowing someone in the class) and the exam is 1/3rd take home. As long as you can write something close enough to what his notes are you'll do pretty well.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 If you want to take an easy course then this is the class. I should mention that he is very headstrong in his opinions though. His accent is difficult to understand in the first two weeks, but after going to Drexel you're forced to learn to pick up on professors' accent.
If you are open to knew ideas and want to learn about other perspectives on life this course is great. But you are argumentative and choose to always speak your opinions so decidedly then avoid this course. I'm majoring in engineering and was able to pass the course only because I'm open to knew ideas. On the first day of class, Machado laughed at me for nearly a minute straight (and I'm not exaggerating it) because I decided to respond to a question with my 'logical and Apollonian thinking.' I decided to push it aside because I heard the class was overall easy. If you pay attention in class and know what his opinions are then you are bound to get an A.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: Interesting and extremely helpful as a professor
Cons: Might not agree with his views and his jokes might be bordering on the offensive side
Though his jokes are sometimes tasteless and he sometimes annoy me with them, I actually do like him and respect the ideas that he has. I love his class and he is extremely helpful if you need help.
You might get offended by him, but well, it's not too bad once you get used to his style of teaching.
I love him. I recommend his class.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 My second course with machado. He's a great teacher, very liberal though. His tests are kind of difficult even though he gives you the outline of what every question is going to be. His fill in the blank tests require either exact quotes from his lectures of specific examples from the readings. Even if I end up with a C+, his classes are truly what college is all about. the issues he discusses are real and its great to see the truth in many of the issues he discusses, and i'm a republican haha. Machado is one of the better professors at Drexel, hands down.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 doctor machado is one of my favorite professors in drexel university. his classes are very interesting and i really enjoy his realistic (pessimistic to some) viewpoints. i would definitely recommend students to take his class.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Great professor, everyone should take him at least once! I did not agree with everything he said in class either, like many of you. But all of the material definitely made me think, and I think THAT is his goal, not getting students to agree with him. If you cannot learn from what he teaches despite whether you agree with it, then there is something wrong with you. I would have loved a little more time for class discussion and debate too, but there was a lot of material so I guess thats why we didnt get to discuss. I think that the yuppies in the class would have been afraid to stand up to him anyway...yet some of you guys are not afraid to trash him on DUReview without leaving your names.. how adorably passive-aggressive of you.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Enough has been said. Regardless of opinions, this guy has almost 40 reviews. Whether you love him or hate him, he's made an impression (which cannot be said for 97% of teachers here at drexel). As for my opinion, he's one of the best teachers here. A little opinionated and cynical at times, however provides a good overview for students to chew on to form their own opinions. If you're interested in learning and thinking about the real world, take this class. If you're looking for the same old boring teacher, find someone else. Overall, two thumbs up.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 To the Individiual who posted the comment on June 2, 2005. I think your sadly mistaken. Dr. Machado is hands down is one of the best professors at Drexel University. He opens the eyes of students to the REAL world, and helps the student understand how the world truly functions. I found his classes and courses very insightful, and actually felt as though I left the course having learned something. Which I surely can not say about a dozen or so other courses I have taken in my time at Drexel. How many professors can make class entertaining and stimulating enough, so that the student actually stays awake and looks forward to coming to class? Dr. Machado does. What I have learned in classes with Dr. Machado I will carry with me for life, and he is the one professor who'll I'll never forget for years to come, as his lectures and classes have opened my eyes and mading a lasting impression. And of course who can forget his..."if you'll allow me to be funny?" Hip Hip Hurray for Dr. Machado...Two Thumbs Up!
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 There's no point in registering for his courses, in my opinion. If you're interested in learning about deviance, or wealth and power, or whatever, you can look up the books he assigns and check them out of a library some time. Save yourself the trouble of having to take his tests. To his credit, he has excellent choice in reading material. He also shows some good films. They ultimately make a clearer, more compelling case for his main points than he does. Most of the time, his lectures are just a loud, obnoxious waste of time, although you might find them entertaining. As far as I can tell, the only reason anyone should take a class with Machado, apart from masochism, is to make sure they don't labor under the delusion that academics are necessarily objective, neutral, people whose statements can be taken as gospel. He himself will tell you that much. No professor better illustrates the fact that professors have their own strong biases than Professor Machado. For someone who says "can I treat you like adults?" every class, he's pretty condescending. His lectures seem to be aimed at naïve, extremely sheltered conservatives who've never been exposed to non-mainstream viewpoints (or to old men who use lots of profanity) and don't know how to counter the sort of evasive sophistry that he often tries to pass off as debate. If you fall into this category, there's a good chance you'll love him for being so “shocking”, “controversial”, “revolutionary”, “brutally honest”, etc. If you don't really need to be shocked into his way of thinking, he'll probably just come off like he's beating the same dead horse all term. If you still want to attend his classes, it may help you to know that: Two sessions or so before each of the first two exams, he'll read a list of what's on them. The exam will not deviate from that list. Most of the list will be based on the class notes, but some will be specific passages or names from the readings. The thing about his exams is that they will only cover part of the class notes, but you don't know which part, so it's essential to come to class and take detailed notes on everything he says, word for word if you can manage it, because he phrases things in a really strange manner sometimes and it helps if you don't understand an exam question to just regurgitate one of his weird phrases at him. The final exam will be a take-home short-essay exam due during finals week. He'll probably cancel class on the last day of the term.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Professor Machado is a very intelligent and reasonable man who knows what he's talking about and most importantly cares that his students get something out of his class. Yes, the topics are controversial but one can't fight the truth. The professor simply encourages the students to think critically and be open to a refreshing point of view. I honestly enjoyed the class and got something new out of it which is more than I can say for many other classes I’ve taken at Drexel over the last 5 years. Come to class and open up your mind. It’s as simple as that. Thank you.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 i took him for soc 101 and after the first 2 weeks i dropped his class. he would ask for peoples thoughts than make fun of the person if its different. he's so into himself, the first 2 classes he kept making us guess where he was from, about his accent and communism. the workload from the syllabus isn't that bad but he really makes you read the book, and i've heard later that he's a really hard grader.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Dr. Machado will encourage the students to participate all throughout the 10 weeks of the course, but if the student brings up an opposing viewpoint that they would like to be treated with some consideration, he will laugh at them instead of breaking down the idea in a convincing manner. So, as soon as all the students in the class get tired of simply being laughed at, all that is left is listen to his ideas and sort through which you want to consider as good and which you will consider BS.
For the test, whether you agree with them or not, just repeat the same 4 or 5 ideas that he mentioned hundred times in class and you'll ace all the essays.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Joke of a class. He told me that because I was an engineer I'd have a hard time with his class. It was a complete waste of time. He'll make a big deal early on about not giving you "conveniant facts" like other classes (as if anything were conveniant in engineering courses), but you'll find that his entire course is about giving you conveniant assumptions instead. Nothing he says will be supported by evidence, he has no understanding of economics or science, and he will attack them to no end. He even admitted that he is wary of logical/rational thought. Completely intolerant of opposing viewpoints, never seems to understand poignant questions (he'll joke and make fun of the question). Many of my closest family and friends grew up in communist countries, and what they say doesn't match with his ideas. Oh, and one more thing... he can't lose an arguement thanks to a little logical snare he's got going on: If you don't agree with him it's because you're still blinded to the truth. I spent the classes fantasizing about jumping headfirst through the window...
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 He is a Marxist, no joke. This guy can preach for hours on how he despises all aspects of American society, and God forbid we have any sort of private healthcare system. He offers no solution for the problems he speaks of, and cannot back them up, telling us that our minds are "tainted". I honestly hope he is joking because this class is meaningless and we are learning nothing other than people like him were the reason Communism failed.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 A fairly typical far-left pseudo-intellectual with a Ph.D. His courses are about indoctrinating you into some old fashioned Marxism, supposedly with a post-modernist bent, but I doubt that sometimes. He contradicts himself a lot while he takes every opportunity to say something nasty about this country. He is extremely intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. Nevertheless, his courses are useful if you just listen to what he says and then dissect it in you own mind--this certainly fortified my intellect. And his courses are generally easy. Just don't take him too seriously and you'll be fine. P.S. His Globalization course is a joke.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Best Prof in all of Drexel University....Opens your mind if your not already brain dead or washed to be mind less consumers...
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 machado is a terrific professor, a bit on the cynical side, but he definitely opens your eyes to certain social realities. the sociology of health class is phenomenal, take it if you have the chance

REFINE YOUR SEARCH

Refine Your Search

Professor Ratings Search
Search by Department Search by Last Name
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ