I am taking a refresher class in calculus II from a community college and am pained by the tricks being taught and feel that the students are being deprived of learning core concepts. I am taking the trouble to read up and not too focused on the solution techniques that the professor emphasizes. However this doesn't do too much for grades. I wish he focused on concepts and application.

But the bag of tricks is a feature of US undergrad education seemingly everywhere, except perhaps in pockets at the very highest level. The tricks permit the student to pass the test so they can go on to do something else. Whoever sits in a chemistry course isn't there for the chemistry, they are mostly there to go up to medical school or allied health science. Of course there are entrance exams.

We have stopped putting things into context, i.e. we do not provide an education any longer. The sideswipe remark in the original paper about Prof. Neanderthaler is also very real.