The University of Michigan has decided that it will not be putting any letter grades on incoming freshmen‘s transcripts, nor basing GPAs on the grades that students earn. This is just another step toward the complete meaninglessness of American college degrees.
There are still a few private colleges that have degrees worth getting, and some universities have very specific programs which are rigorous, but overall, higher education has become little more than a way of propagandizing large numbers of young people and raking in taxpayer and donor money. Part of the issue is that universities generally operate under the impression that they are required to lower the bar whenever they find that most American high school graduates cannot meet current standards. The fact is, if you cannot pass basic freshman courses, you shouldn’t be in college.
From Campus Reform:
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.
Whenever I am in danger of feeling arrogant about my own college degree, I go back and read about the university experiences of such brilliant Americans and Europeans as Nathan Hale, Alexander Hamilton, Publius Vergilius Maro, and Albert the Great. Hale was able to conduct a political debate in Latin upon his graduation. John Henry Newman’s university entrance exam for Greek and Latin would be too rigorous for many Classics major graduates now. In a little frontier schoolhouse, Laura Ingalls Wilder — who never graduated high school — had to memorize and recite most of the history of the United States and solve complex problems in her head. Alcuin’s ninth century work “propositions toward sharpening youth” was meant for young students, but requires mental math and logic skills that many a PhD lacks now.
The point of this is that educators in general used to set much higher standards, challenging students and forcing them to work hard, while university was once only for those students with exceptional academic skills willing to put in a great deal of effort. True, there have been historical examples of universities or schools lapsing in their standards, as for instance, the British universities of the 1700s and 1800s which welcomed in nobility’s scions who were mentally deficient or habitually lazy. But never before has an entire country completely cheapened its education system in such a way as America and a few other Western nations have.
The issue is that from kindergarten through university level, American educators are failing students. Instead of educating and challenging them, teachers and staff are catering to the lowest common denominator. That’s a disaster for the Americans who will be shaping our future.
