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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Someone in another thread pointed out that weed out classes can be good because they admit a broader range of students and then keep the ones who are successful. That makes sense to me.

But how does having weed out classes impact the culture of the school? When I was choosing a law school, I avoided schools where the 1L year had a reputation for discouraging the lower performing students to drop out because it created a competitive, rather than collaborative, environment. Engineering school is hard enough -- not being able to work with your peers would make it even more difficult.[/quote]

Calculus is calculus. Physics is physics. If you can’t do well in these, don’t pick engineering as a major.[/quote]

If the curve is deliberately set so that x% will fail, that means it is not necessarily an incompetent student or a student who cannot do well objectively. It just means the (school, teacher) wanted to have that percentage fail. [/quote]
Admittedly last Century, but we had no “curve.” Either you got it right or you didn’t. There was usually some partial credit involved hence the oft repeated “show your work” instructions.

Our “weed” outs weren’t really defined that way, but rather were classified as “C-Wall” classes in that you had to get a C or better in the triplet to be allowed to sign up for the next year’s slate. There was one, general set for freshmen (Calculus, Physics, and, yes, English)…then another set for sophomore-level engineering, which varied based on the intended discipline.  in Civil, it was Statics, Dynamics, Hydraulics/Fluids, and Solids. The [url=https://ccee.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/14CEBS-Post-on-website_022023.pdf]specific courses[/url] have changed a bit but the concept is still there.

It made sense then and still does to me. Give any/everyone the chance to prove yourself.[/quote]

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