The notion of academic rigor has fallen on evil times.  In a typical instance of continuing epistemic degradation, Donna Riley, of Purdue University's School of Engineering Education, insists that rigor must be eliminated since rigor is a "dirty deed" fraught with "exclusionary implications for marginalized groups and marginalized ways of knowing."  It matters little, apparently, if our bridges collapse so long as "men of color and women, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people, first-generation and low-income students" are welcomed into the new holistic community defined by "other ways of knowing" – whatever these may be.  Similarly, Rochelle Gutierrez, of the University of Illinois, fears that algebra, geometry, and math perpetuate white male privilege and discriminate against minorities.  Indeed, minority under-performance is often disguised as a form of "mismatching" – that is, the fault...(Read Full Article)