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There are many exams given where questions require not just study and understanding but also a high level of innate intelligence. So no matter how hard the ave

There are many exams given where questions require not just study and understanding but also a high level of innate intelligence. So no matter how hard the average student may study, he/she would have little chance of making progress on such questions. This could be devastating mentally -- and perhaps science will show that it eventually results in permanent brain damage.

mquander 17y ago
Perhaps science will show that pigs have wings, and perhaps if a student is "devastated mentally" when he finds out that he isn't easily capable of grasping some particular academic subfield, he should take up a trade instead of going to college.
c00ki3s 17y ago
Are you joking? If you aren't smart enough, then maybe you just shouldn't be in that course. There is no god given right to pass any exam.
timwiseman 17y ago
I hope this is a joke. First, this is probably factually false. I don't have studies to cite offhand, but it seems that the brain is immenantly trainable to virtually any specific task. Perhaps, just perhaps, many people do not have the innate potential to do Nobel Prize leve research, but I suspect anyone without a genuine mental disability can with time and determination master just about any undergraduate level topic. If I am genuinely wrong and some people are not innately capable of passing a specific class, then the answer is still not to lower the standards so they can pass it. Rather that would mean (if true) that that person does not belong in that class. Perhaps they need to change majors or choose different electives, but lowering the standards will harm everyone else in that class.
yummyfajitas 17y ago
It could be devastating mentally - some poor student might discover he is actually a middle of the pack business major rather than Einstein pt. Deux. Adjusting your ego downwards is an unpleasant task, but is nevertheless a necessary and important one.

mquander 17y ago

Perhaps science will show that pigs have wings, and perhaps if a student is "devastated mentally" when he finds out that he isn't easily capable of grasping some particular academic subfield, he should take up a trade instead of going to college.

c00ki3s 17y ago

Are you joking? If you aren't smart enough, then maybe you just shouldn't be in that course. There is no god given right to pass any exam.

timwiseman 17y ago

I hope this is a joke. First, this is probably factually false. I don't have studies to cite offhand, but it seems that the brain is immenantly trainable to virtually any specific task. Perhaps, just perhaps, many people do not have the innate potential to do Nobel Prize leve research, but I suspect anyone without a genuine mental disability can with time and determination master just about any undergraduate level topic. If I am genuinely wrong and some people are not innately capable of passing a specific class, then the answer is still not to lower the standards so they can pass it. Rather that would mean (if true) that that person does not belong in that class. Perhaps they need to change majors or choose different electives, but lowering the standards will harm everyone else in that class.

yummyfajitas 17y ago

It could be devastating mentally - some poor student might discover he is actually a middle of the pack business major rather than Einstein pt. Deux. Adjusting your ego downwards is an unpleasant task, but is nevertheless a necessary and important one.