There was an article a few days ago in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the word rigor. (I realize you will hit the pay wall after the first two paragraphs, but you'll get the drift.) They say it's code for some students who deserve to be there, while others don't. I see what they are saying - but I sure don't agree. Just dumb down all courses. Is that what they want? What do you think?This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
Well I hope the rest of the article is a bit more rigourous than the first two paragraphs (I couldn't resist, sorry) but everything about that seems muddle-headed. First, they don't seem to understand what the word actually means. While it's true that it CAN mean severity or hardship it more often (at least in the circles I move in) means detailed and careful with all correct procedures being followed. Academic rigour means things like checking your sources, verifying your facts and generally avoiding all the mistakes that are actually avoidable. Second, it's the job of a teacher at that level to challenge his students. If you set questions that every student can answer or tasks that every student can achieve then you might as well not set the task at all and just give them all an A grade on day one and send them home. I love the sub heading too - "if it's code for.... needs to go". Well it isn't, so no need to concern ourselves with the chain of logic that follows from this lazy and inane assumption. "Grit" is an irrelevance and "imposter syndrome" has nothing to do with it - being a feeling the student has that he isn't good enough - and is outside the control of the teacher entirely. The idea that all students should be achieving equally is the kind of nonsense that in the UK has led to school sports days and their inherent competitiveness being replaced with inclusive activities where there are no winners and no losers and everybody gets a prize. If you don't set gradable tasks you can't determine which students need more help or which topics are not being fully understood.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
Exactly, Bob. That is what "rigor" means to everyone. What we need to do here in the U.S. is to add more rigor to primary and secondary grades so that students are ready for college. That seems to be the problem here.
