| There is a big difference between saying Chicago is "rigorous" and saying it is "more rigorous" than some other place. It's rigorous because it is difficult to find a course that doesn't cover a significant amount of material in a short time, that doesn't require a fair amount of work to learn the material and to get a B or better, and where students don't actually learn something that affects how they thing in major or minor ways. Also, students tend to be engaged in what they are studying, and challenge one another's BS. Part of the culture of the place seems to be high standards of logic and proof in academic discourse.
On the whole, that's how I would describe the competitor school where I went to college as well, although I would admit that it was probably easier to find a "gut" or two per semester there than it has been for my kids at Chicago, and BS sometimes went unchallenged. (But I have no idea how things are at my alma mater now in that regard.) I might add that perhaps the easiest course I took in college was one in which I learned a LOT that has stuck with me through my career. The ease of the course was a function of really thoughtful course design, not lack of rigor. The course could have covered more material, sure, but time has proved that the material it covered was the IMPORTANT material, the fundamental principles and concepts. (The course? Introduction to Financial Accounting, in the Economics Department. It changed my life. I don't think Chicago offers a course like that.) |