“I personally watched “slower” people drop out of rigorous mathematics courses and majors when I was in college 40 years ago. The progression goes: start as a math major, if you can’t hack it, then become a Math Ed major. If you can’t hack that, then become an El Ed major with a concentration in bulletin boards. “
Nailed it. As a math/physics undergrad and a PhD in EE who chaired a EE dept not that long ago, those frosh math courses are grand predictors in separating future scientists from future politicians/eddikators/media types.
I graduated in Civil Engineering many years ago. In one of my Freshman courses the professor said that two-thirds of those in attendance will not get to the advanced engineering courses. He was right, maybe even understated. Many wanna-be engineers soon become Business majors.
Calc II was the weed out course when I was in school. That and Physics I & II (calc-based & taken concurrently with Calc I & II). No one held your hand back in those days. No idea what it is like today, but the material "should" be identical. It seemed that once I made it through those courses everything became easy. It is probably more like I straightened out of a lot bad habits from high school then things became easier; plus I learned how to really study.