Math troubles
In my recent experience with taking university math, I was informed to take principles of math, pre-calculus, or foundations of mathematics. My institution insisted that I needed one of these courses in order to continue on with my degree as a bachelor of arts. However, what I was not told at the time is that principles of math was long gone. I will elaborate on this later, but for now I will focus on what happened when I made my choice.
Basically, I took on pre-calculus, but found myself unable to grasp the math. From there I fell behind within several weeks. This caused me to withdraw from the course. About 3 months later, I was about to sign up for a course in logic, but I was informed to take either of the three as mentioned above. In my blindness I took pre-calculus again, and tried my luck by finding a tutor. The course ended in failure for me, as I wasn't able to once again grasp the content, even with a tutor's help and recieved an "F". It also didn't help that I have a learning impairment that hinders my understanding of math. As such, I tried again with a tutor and received a "C-", yet that wasn't enough for the administrators, so I was given a "hardblock" on my attendance. My institution's standards at the time were either a 60% or a 70% in math.
At this point, I was given a choice of signing a contract to take pre-calculus again, taking a placement test or going back to my old high school to take Math 11 or 12. I went with the third option and spent over a year retaking pre-calculus, while failing miserably. My math teacher grew worried about my poor performance, so I told her my situation, and she later informed me that principles of math was discontinued, that the information I was given by my university was misleading, and that as a student in the humanities, I should have been taking Foundations of Math. Meanwhile, I was informed that Pre-Calculus was in fact for students going into the Sciences, Technology, Engeneering and Mathematics (STEM). With this revelation, I came to realize that my university didn't explain this to me when advertised, nor is this explained on their website.
Now I did take foundations of math, and passed with a 62% or a "C", and that should have been enough right? Nope. Once I returned to my university to show to my academic advisor, they later informed me that I needed to score a 70% in math. This came to me as another door slammed in my face. My university had moved the goalpost over, especially as they demand that I take pre-calculus yet again! I find this no only absurd, but that it begs the question, why the heck does a humanities student need to take a math course that's designated for the STEM fields? Even the placement test solely covers pre-calculus.
This changing of the rules also entails that by raising the standards higher, it prevents humanities students such as myself from completing their degrees and graduating. Not to mention that earlier I was informed that the 60% grade in math was reserved for persons with cognitive disabilities. This in turn makes it difficult for neuro-divergent students to continue attending the university, while also being ableist. Also, without making a clear distinction of which math course is designated for which field or degree, it creates confusion for students and is detrimental to humanities students insofar as it would cause them to drop out, waste their time, and money. This has me pondering is my own institution leans more towards the STEM fields rather than the Humanities.
Favoring the STEM fields and showing a disregard for the Humanities is no different from science worship, which is akin to phallic worship. This is especially in the case of hyper-rationality and scientism, where the former is in favor of reason rather than intuition is the primary source of knowledge, while the latter assumes that only science can give us knowledge. In feminist epistemology, the sciences are seen as masculine, as they favor reason.
When trying to explain this to my academic advisor, they told me the conditions and tried to suggest the same hoops I shoot through. However, I wanted none of it, and threatened to move to back to my previous university. My advisor tried to sweet talk me from taking this suggestion, but I would not relent or buy into the same offerings and solutions that didn't work for me beforehand. Even when I tried to explain the differences between the two math courses, they just brushed it off. Hence, I just walked out angrily while never looking back.
So here I am as neuro-divergent person, embittered, humiliated, and feeling hoodwinked. I had my degree in my grasp, only to have it taken away from me. My advice is for students in the humanities is to make sure you ask which is relevant to their fields.