[nicoburns]

In my experience this attitude is extremely widespread amongst university departments. I think it's a simple combination of elitism and poor training in pedagogy (unlike school teachers, university lecturers typically undergo no mandatory training in teaching).

[busterarm]

When the author described this specific math class as a required math class for Engineering majors and not math majors, I spotted it for exactly what it is: a weedout course.

It's intentional.

[speed_spread]

Aka Institutional Gatekeeping.