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> A "weed-out" class is one that's badly taught I disagree, a weed-out course can be well taught and still weed out most students who take it. If a course req

> A "weed-out" class is one that's badly taught I disagree, a weed-out course can be well taught and still weed out most students who take it. If a course requires a level of dedication and memorization ability that most students don't possess, then it will weed out lazy, disinterested and unintelligent students no matter how good the instructors are. You might claim that a lazy and disinterested student is still the fault of the professor, but it's not the professor's job to babysit a 19 year old and make him to spend Friday night studying instead of getting drunk in a frat party.

zozbot234 4y ago
All college courses require dedication and memorization, so "lazy, disinterested and unintelligent" students will always be hit by gradual attrition - or, more likely, they will gradually realize that their college program is a lot harder than they might have expected, and do their best to shape up rather than switch to something else. "Weed-out" classes, as a rule, are perceived as highly peculiar in a way that doesn't simply boil down to tougher standards.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  Not all courses are made equal, some college courses intrinsically require more dedication and memorization than others. These courses will naturally come to be called weed-out courses.
  - taylodl 4y ago
    Exactly. I'm reminded of the phrase "you can dazzle them with your brilliance or baffle them with your BS." In science and mathematics there's no room for BS. Answers are either correct or incorrect, and analysis must be applied to obtain the correct answer. American students have been conditioned to fail in such an environment, having been told all their lives (I'm American BTW) that its "too hard" and that it's okay if you're not able to do it. Honestly, a doctor incapable of thinking is not who I want for my doctor. A doctor incapable of thinking while under stress is not who I want for my doctor. How do you test for those qualities? Many colleges use O-chem. Hence it becomes a "weed out" course. We'll just have to wait and see whether this professor went above and beyond what's required for a "weed out" course or whether NYU just killed their premed program.
    - zozbot234 4y ago
      > I'm reminded of the phrase "you can dazzle them with your brilliance or baffle them with your BS." In science and mathematics there's no room for BS. Sure, but this applies to the whole of pre-med as a discipline - it sits solidly within the STEM overall area. It's not like other classes in the program are any less reality-based.

zozbot234 4y ago

All college courses require dedication and memorization, so "lazy, disinterested and unintelligent" students will always be hit by gradual attrition - or, more likely, they will gradually realize that their college program is a lot harder than they might have expected, and do their best to shape up rather than switch to something else. "Weed-out" classes, as a rule, are perceived as highly peculiar in a way that doesn't simply boil down to tougher standards.

MichaelCollins 4y ago
Not all courses are made equal, some college courses intrinsically require more dedication and memorization than others. These courses will naturally come to be called weed-out courses.
- taylodl 4y ago
  Exactly. I'm reminded of the phrase "you can dazzle them with your brilliance or baffle them with your BS." In science and mathematics there's no room for BS. Answers are either correct or incorrect, and analysis must be applied to obtain the correct answer. American students have been conditioned to fail in such an environment, having been told all their lives (I'm American BTW) that its "too hard" and that it's okay if you're not able to do it. Honestly, a doctor incapable of thinking is not who I want for my doctor. A doctor incapable of thinking while under stress is not who I want for my doctor. How do you test for those qualities? Many colleges use O-chem. Hence it becomes a "weed out" course. We'll just have to wait and see whether this professor went above and beyond what's required for a "weed out" course or whether NYU just killed their premed program.
  - zozbot234 4y ago
    > I'm reminded of the phrase "you can dazzle them with your brilliance or baffle them with your BS." In science and mathematics there's no room for BS. Sure, but this applies to the whole of pre-med as a discipline - it sits solidly within the STEM overall area. It's not like other classes in the program are any less reality-based.