I was pushing back at the parent comment suggesting pre-reqs are some big conspiracy.
If a university blocks someone who is capable, but lacking pre-reqs, from taking a course there is no real cost to them, and little to the student. (At least for me there were more courses I was interested in taking than I had time to take.)
If a university lets someone take a course without pre-reqs, and that person lacks the required foundation and does badly in the course, it's bad for the student (time wasted) and bad for the university (disruptive to the course, bad in University ranking exercises).
Pre-reqs are not perfect, but it's also hard to assess what all potential students are capable of before before taking a course in the same way that job hiring is difficult. So they are a reasonable approach.
Comments
I was pushing back at the parent comment suggesting pre-reqs are some big conspiracy.
If a university blocks someone who is capable, but lacking pre-reqs, from taking a course there is no real cost to them, and little to the student. (At least for me there were more courses I was interested in taking than I had time to take.)
If a university lets someone take a course without pre-reqs, and that person lacks the required foundation and does badly in the course, it's bad for the student (time wasted) and bad for the university (disruptive to the course, bad in University ranking exercises).
Pre-reqs are not perfect, but it's also hard to assess what all potential students are capable of before before taking a course in the same way that job hiring is difficult. So they are a reasonable approach.