“No Pain, No Gain” is a well-known saying that could and should be applied to education. In education, pain means dealing with terms or concepts students are unfamiliar with, that they have to reach and stretch in order to comprehend and apply. Gain is being able to understand the concepts and terms so well that students can apply them outside of class, implementing them into their own work and lives. There will be “no gain” unless that pain is present in a class. The right amount of pain, of challenge, in a class is debatable. A class should not be dumbed down, however, because it is considered too challenging for most students.
A challenging class may prove to be too much for some, but for those who get an acceptable grade by overcoming the challenge, the payoff is well worth it. Those students acquire knowledge and skills that will prove to be invaluable to them later in life. It is not fair if they are deprived of the chance to learn, grow and be challenged just because other students don’t have the drive or skills to keep up. Even if an individual does not have the skills to keep up, they can usually gain these by getting extra help from the TAs or the professor during study sessions and office hours. As intimidating as some professors seem, if students ask for help, they will give it. Answering students’ questions in a one-on-one session is a way of rewarding students that have expressed interest in the class and is part of being a teacher.
Given the amount of help that challenging classes offer to students, there is no reason that driven students can’t succeed regardless of their initial skill set and therefore no reason to reduce the challenge level for classes. If the teacher does not provide opportunities to receive help either through TA sessions or office hours, the class should not be offered. If it is, the class difficulty level should reflect the lack of aid available to students. Assignments should not cover challenging subjects since students will have no opportunities to talk to TAs or the professor in order to gain the skills necessary to solve those problems.
If only a small percentage of the class is succeeding, even with the type of help previously mentioned, the class should continue at the same level since there are other ways to ensure satisfactory grade distribution without robbing those that are succeeding. Teachers could introduce grade curves or extra credit assignments that buoy struggling students’ grades. Extra credit should not be given to completely rescue a grade, however, but instead should nudge the grade from a B- to a B or a C to C+.
Although challenging classes are bemoaned by students, they are a necessary part of the education system. They offer driven individuals the opportunity to push themselves further, learning new skills and ideas in the process.