The broke-woke-stroke convergence: Why professors lower standards.
“Broke” colleges and universities “scramble to attract and retain students, whatever their intellectual readiness,” they write. Faculty are under pressure to please the customers. If too many switch to an easier major, the professor could lose his or her job.
“Woke” sensibilities have politicized student performance disparities, especially by race, they write. A Boston University teaching guide on the “hidden curriculum” suggests it “may not be fair or even valid” to hold marginalized students to such expectations as doing the readings, arriving to class on time, participating in class discussions or using “standard English.”
“Stroke” refers to the need to stroke the egos of “students viewed as increasingly likely to push back for higher grades or others perceived as too vulnerable to receive stringent appraisals of their work.”
h/t Stephen Green