I was an organic chemistry TA for a professor who was notorious for having the hardest organic chemistry class at our school, but it was also widely considered that surviving his course meant that you truly understood the subject matter.
He was unapologetic about the subject matter being difficult and believed that teachers who didn't teach it hard and try to really force undergrads to understand it were cheating themselves.
He was especially adamant about it because many undergrads taking organic are trying to go to medical school and didn't like the idea of letting lazy or stupid people become doctors on his watch.
When we were grading tests, he would laugh as he marked errors and delivered low grades. "Hexavalent carbon? WRONG. Saving lives... Saving lives..."
He was unapologetic about the subject matter being difficult and believed that teachers who didn't teach it hard and try to really force undergrads to understand it were cheating themselves.
He was especially adamant about it because many undergrads taking organic are trying to go to medical school and didn't like the idea of letting lazy or stupid people become doctors on his watch.
When we were grading tests, he would laugh as he marked errors and delivered low grades. "Hexavalent carbon? WRONG. Saving lives... Saving lives..."