In my freshman Chemistry class at Michigan Tech, the introduction exercise was to have all us engineers-to-be look to our left, then look to our right and be told that one of us was likely no longer going to be there come the end of the term. Chemistry was famously a "weed-out" class.
In a way, it was somewhat humane. Many kids showed up at Tech lured by the starting salary that you could get with a degree, so it was better to figure out sooner rather than later whether you wanted to invest the 4+ years. (And actually, there were far more weeded out by the UP isolation and cruel winters than academic rigor — my freshman year we had well over 300 inches of snow.)
I was able to survive all that and graduate. Hurray for me! And also, who cares? It certainly doesn't mean that a student today needs to have that exact same experience I did in order to succeed. We've learned a lot about mental health since then. (Educated people learn things. That's how education works.)
The University of Michigan will start a pilot program in 2027 where many first-semester students will no longer receive letter grades on their transcripts — final letter grades will be replaced with a designation of either “pass” or “no credit.” The idea is to lessen the stress of starting college.
That was not my experience, but I am neither angry nor jealous. Quite the contrary — considering the current cost of a four-year degree, I'm happy for any help that students get.
Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
