Good to know.

And that works sooo well. 8^)

Worse than that, they enter post college life mentally like 9th graders.

U mad bro? Thanks though, I love angering people to the point where they think profanity is somehow a good debate technique.

"Swiss cheese with no handle"? Makes as much sense as screen doors on submarines.

You disagree, then post something that shows that pass/fail is bad.

At most universities, a MAJORITY of all grades awarded to undergraduate students are some version of an 'A'. Which is ludicrous. But there's no way out. Try giving a kid who has received nothing but A's (especially at Michigan) a B-. 3...2...1... they either drop the class (which is not good for anyone) or they and their donor parent lodge a complaint with the president, the dean, the department chair, on Yelp, on X, with the governor...which leads to a bunch of dumb meetings and changing it into an A anyway...and if you're an adjunct instructor on a semester-to-semester contract, you don't even dare because if you don't get that renewal you don't eat...So let's just give up on the charade of grading and move to a pass fail. So your idea is another way of saying no fail, only pass.

You know, it's good to talk to someone who knows how it is, and even though my 50 years on campus now tells me different, it is good to see the cynical unvarnished truth. Thank you!

In actuality, the parent that just wants their larvae given a degree, or they will pull their funding is a cool story bro moment. Do some of those exist? Yeah there are all manner of people out there. There are also parents who want their children to garner knowledge, not just be handed a degree. But the idea you champion, which is exactly no failure allowed, will bring a learning institution to its knees quickly, especially in fields that require actual acumen. Where mistakes or actions taken without knowledge might end the inflated grade student.

So true. I'm certain most parents would faint, but I allowed my son and his friends to play street Hockey.... in the street. Unsupervised. I'd not be far away, just found something to work on in the garage, but they were left alone. Wife wanted more "Adult presence". I said "no, because this is more than street hockey". Those kids learned conflict resolution, how to get along on their own part, setting up rules, When to argue, when to not compromise - Like when someone yells "CAR!" it's time to grab the net and get off the road - Now!

Guess you would call it the Zen of Street Hockey. Those little guys learning lot that went way beyond the fun. Let them grow, let them learn some skills modern parenting and schools do not teach - and actually hinder.

So they don't give grades, and a 2.0 student is just as competent as a 4.0. Good to know. The question is, if trades are irrelevant, why do other Universities use them when it is clear grades mean nothing whatsoever? Can't be the liberals in charge, they've wanted to dispense with grades even when I was in school.

Well, Perhaps this leads to an experiment. MIT and other school shut only give pass fail should have much better mental health for it's students, as well as demonstrated proof that pass fail of say 2.0 is equivalent of a 4.0 grade. I'll look to see the proof, because a D student is therefore mentally healthy, and just as competent as an A student. I'm off to prove you right!

Oh, that would be awesome. But no, violence, just snark exchanges.

Too stressful though.

Making up things for me to say, arguing with me in your head - which is good, because you never lose.

Can you show where I said that? I can't find it. But here is teh issue. Since these students are enduring a mental health crisis, are we doing them any favors by not continuing the Pass/no credit? Perhaps this should be extended to their entire college experience.

Because at what point do we say, "We've shielded you enough, your mental crisis is gone now."

Because while I'm no psychiatrist, I'm having a difficult time sussing that this is going to cure the crisis. Which I will say this - If this shows promises, what about people who are still in crisis? Make it permanent? Seems cruel to do it only for freshmen, not all students.

I didn't attend MIT as a student, but I've worked there in the late 90's.

But this is not for employers. As stated in the FA, it is to address the serious mental health crisis students face. Employers are years away.

Now the 100 percent of us are neurodivergent, who do we compare ourselves to?

I was in the University environment since the late 1970s, and the issue started in the mid 90's. And it was based on a social experiment that went awry.

Shielding young people from any adversity was creating overly attached parents and children. We had some difficulty getting the parents to allow their children to grow up. The kids were adults now, but acted emotionally like children. It was difficult for the parents who had shielded their children since birth to stop shielding them.

And as it turned out these children stressed a lot. We even had to separate the parents for a chat about allowing their children to grow up. The advent of cell phones made it so easy to continue the coddling.

It has gotten worse. But like addicts, people think that eliminating even more stress will produce adults.

I've worked in Academia for over 30 years, that leads me to a different opinion.

You are correct that not everyone should go to college, but that is only one problem. P I don't recall a time long ago when Mommy would try to come along on job interviews, or the kiddies call mommy and daddy to fire a professor because the prof was mean or assigned work that was too hard.

We actually separated Mommy and Daddy from the students during orientation, and educated them on allowing their child to mature by not intervening in every aspect of their school life.

That's the other problem, every bit as big as the fact that we had a great social experiment to have all young people go to college.