The University of Michigan wants to help address the mental health struggles of college students by making first-semester grades matter less. The policy raises a question that extends well beyond Ann Arbor: When did feeling anxious about something become a reason to make that thing less consequential?
Treating anxiety over grades as a mental health problem gets something important wrong. Getting a C can be disappointing. It can be embarrassing. And it can make a student anxious about his GPA or his future. But none of those reactions means the grade is psychologically harmful. Feeling bad isn’t the same thing as being unwell.
Beginning in fall 2027, first-semester students in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts will have their grades converted to Pass or No Credit on external transcripts and generally excluded from their GPA. Students will still receive letter grades. The college says the change is intended, in part, to help curb “the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals.”…