Back in the day, there were always rumors about big colleges accepting more freshman than the school could handle – but then forcing these wide-eyed fledglings through an intensely difficult Biology 101 class in order to eliminate the weaker students and cull the freshman population to a more manageable level.
I don’t know if that’s true or not – it could be another urban legend like the college roommate with the chloroform and penchant for anal sex.
But the underlying theme of this “science as a bludgeon” story reveals a deep-seated fear and distrust of science, at least by one interpretation. It’s little wonder that the U.S. population as a whole has the reputation (deserving or not) of being scientifically ignorant, given that institutions use science as a wedge, separating one type of person from another, thus creating the perception that science is something in which only a select few can participate.
