{"id":4504,"date":"2026-08-12T20:12:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4504"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:12:41","slug":"what-do-grades-have-to-do-with-student-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4504","title":{"rendered":"What do grades have to do with student mental health?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

See also Andrea Widburg’s ‘The University of Michigan is now hiding grades from fragile freshmen’<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more The Stopwatch Doesn\u2019t Lie: Why Biology \u2014 Not Gender Identity \u2014 Defines Women\u2019s Sports<\/a><\/p>\n

The University of Michigan, an elite \u201cpublic ivy,\u201d was highlighted in the New York Times about how it is changing its freshman grading policy from letter grades, to pass-fail.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reason, Michigan explains, is that it will \u201cimprove student mental health.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They go on to claim that this will \u201chelp first-year students acclimate to the demands of college\u201d and that \u201cthey can explore a subject that may not come easily to them or take a course in a new field without the fear that a low grade may have long-term consequences.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is hard to imagine what \u201clong-term consequences\u201d any particular letter grade could have on anyone\u2019s life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And why would a young adult be \u201cafraid\u201d of any subject?\u00a0\u00a0Since when is learning a thing to be feared?\u00a0\u00a0I could see if the stakes were life and death, like in pilot training, where some fear of failure is necessary.\u00a0\u00a0But a class on British literature, or even accounting?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, it is hard to reconcile the fact that a \u201cD\u201d is \u201cpassing,\u201d so what is the difference?\u00a0\u00a0More than one successful businessman, engineer, musician, doctor or lawyer, also had at least one \u201cD\u201d on their transcript. For most, it was a humbling reminder of how much they didn\u2019t know, and to keep working at it.\u00a0\u00a0It can build character, and perseverance \u2014 the best lesson in life. The old saying that we \u201clearn from mistakes\u201d isn\u2019t quite accurate: you learn by correcting mistakes<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Ask any scientist, or tennis player.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of obvious criticisms that could be pointed out about this policy from Michigan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t alone of course, and even Yale Law grades its first-year law students on a pass-fail format.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more In the last 75 years, England saw a 34,900% increase in mosques<\/a><\/p>\n

Coddling young adults is one of the problems, and it is also a way for universities to accommodate some students who really shouldn\u2019t be in college, don\u2019t want to be, or aren\u2019t ready.\u00a0\u00a0With college enrollment down, and university overhead costs sky high, keeping student intake up is vital: every new student contributes to revenue in some way, while supporting a university\u2019s reported numbers on matriculation rates, racial quotas, and financial aid awards. It also lets universities broadcast to the public, media and government that they are following non-discriminatory policy, where \u201cdiscrimination\u201d can include making unreasonable demands on certain students, such as academic performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The biggest problem with this kind of policy involves the purported university concern with student mental health: Michigan claims that its change in grading policy will improve it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

How, exactly?\u00a0\u00a0What do they mean by the term \u201cmental health,\u201d and why is this even a concern of an institution of higher learning?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It invokes the long discredited university role of \u201cin loco parentis\u201d or acting as an effective parent.\u00a0\u00a0Universities, of course, worry about liability and lawsuits, so that is part of their motivation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps their motivation also includes creating dependency rather than self-reliance<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe universities are making mental health worse \u2014 and perhaps it effectively serves their interests in doing so. With so much progressive ideological doctrine saturating university campuses, the ability to inculcate sympathetic, reciprocal behavior from students, reinforces their willingness to accept it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Universities are in effect creating a perverse variation of the \u201cStockholm syndrome:\u201d By treating students with such low regard about their own mental fitness, universities are imprisoning them in their own self-doubt<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0It is a form of effective psychological abuse, and makes students a captive group. If comfort can be shown by claiming that their fears and anxiety, or their \u201ctrauma response\u201d to being away from home, and facing new demands, can be relieved in symbolic ways like removing grade pressure, then the self-reinforcing cycle of dependency and trust is reinforced in successively small ways.\u00a0\u00a0And when everyone merely \u201cpasses,\u201d then no one stands out: rivalry, and competitive pressure are softened.<\/p>\n

It also subtly serves the progressive political vision of a life-long captive society based on common group identity, and solidarity. Given that the vast majority of professors and staff are Democrats, college is a subtle political training institute as much as it is anything else. That first taste of a fair, equitable and classless society starts in the freshman year of the modern university.<\/p>\n

Matthew G. Andersson is a law and policy author, college parent, and a graduate of the University of Chicago.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more At history\u2019s brink<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: Pixabay \/\/ Pixabay Content License<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See also Andrea Widburg’s ‘The University of Michigan is now hiding grades from fragile freshmen’ Read more The Stopwatch Doesn\u2019t Lie: Why Biology \u2014 Not Gender Identity \u2014 Defines Women\u2019s Sports The University of Michigan, an elite \u201cpublic ivy,\u201d was highlighted in the New York Times about how it is changing its freshman grading policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-education"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat do grades have to do with student mental health? - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4504\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What do grades have to do with student mental health? 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