<p><pre><code>    What exactly does the first sentence mean?
</code></pre>
It&#x27;s a well-known euphemism for: making it easier, diluting standards, making grades easier to manipulate.<p>Indeed just yesterday, my head of department suggested that I move from programming exercises to essays in my operating systems course, so as to have fewer students fail.<p>The problem with math&#x2F;programming is that there are fairly hard and objective and measurable criteria for how good a student performs. So let&#x27;s get rid of programming ...