U. Michigan Will Hide Grades for First-Semester Students to ‘Curb the Mental Health Crisis’
”We believe that covering grades will help students start strong and curb the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals”
If you can be mentally triggered by grades, you’re not ready for college.
Campus Reform reports:
UMich to bury first-semester grades in bid to ‘curb the mental health crisis’
The University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) will stop reporting traditional letter grades on first-semester transcripts for incoming freshmen beginning in Fall 2027, replacing them with “pass” or “no credit” designations as part of a pilot program aimed at reducing student stress and curbing a “mental health crisis”.
Students will still earn letter grades and receive instructor feedback in every course. However, those grades will remain internal, will not appear on official transcripts, and will not affect first-semester GPAs.
University officials say the policy is intended to help freshmen transition to college, support student well-being, and encourage students to take academically challenging courses without worrying that one difficult semester could permanently affect their records.
”We believe that covering grades will help students start strong and curb the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals,” the policy page states.
The school argues the program will shift students’ focus from grades to learning by promoting collaboration over competition and allowing freshmen to explore unfamiliar subjects without fear of damaging their GPAs.
The policy reflects a broader trend across higher education of reducing academic pressure in response to rising concerns about student mental health. Rather than asking whether students are prepared for the demands of college, universities are increasingly restructuring academic standards to accommodate student anxiety.
Although first-semester grades will be hidden from transcripts, the university will continue using them internally for financial aid, scholarships, athletic eligibility, academic advising, degree progress, and compliance. Students can also access grades for applications to internships or for other opportunities.
The grade-covering policy will apply automatically to every first-year LSA student. University officials say making the program optional could stigmatize students who elected to conceal their grades, making a universal policy more equitable.
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Comments
Oh, the poor precious snowflakes. We will fix everything by delaying their collision with reality for one whole semester. Heaven on Earth awaits.
I was traumatized for life by my 3.86 GPA my first semester. Never will get over it
s/curb/kick the can further down the road/
My first year of college was their first year experimenting with “freshman pass/NR.” A student could take certain required courses (I forget who got to select which ones or how many) as pass/NR, meaning if you failed one, there would be “no record” of the failure (you’d have to take it again, of course, and pass it to graduate). It was considered radical at that time.
Having placed out of Calculus I, I was struggling with Calculus II. The instructor strongly suggested I drop the course (even after I reminded him I was taking it pass/NR), which made me seriously doubt his intelligence, as there was absolutely zero downside to me for continuing.
It was only decades later that it dawned on me that I was likely screwing up some metric by which HE was rated. (Luckily for both of us, I passed anyway.)
What actions will be taken to cure the mental health problems demonstrated by most of the staff, all of the administrators, and probably 3/4 of the trustees??
Meanwhile, I think the students are tougher than the staph thinks they are.
Great preparation for becoming a socialist drone. Horrible for becoming your best.
How are you going to fill America’s workplaces with DEI drones if you flunk them before they graduate because of their DEI?
‘University officials say the policy is intended to help freshmen transition to college, support student well-being, and encourage students to take academically challenging courses without worrying that one difficult semester could permanently affect their records.’
Perhaps a year or two working a broom or serving the dinner rush at the Cracker Barrel will increase Trevor and Hermoine’s appreciation of the college opportunity.
MIT has been doing this for decades. Even good students are unprepared for the freshman year, when they find out that they aren’t the best in the class any more. It’s a healthy thing. There’s plenty of time to collect real grades for the transcript afterwards.
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