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U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

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Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#211

Post by Aurornis »

joezydeco wrote: post #46
alephnerd wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naw. Adult life is so much easier with regards to competitive pressure compared to getting into a good college. The real world is Pass/Fail, much to the chagrin of plenty of HNers.

And we shouldn't expect adult/parent level of work out a 16/17 year-old. There's no time left any more to be a kid.

> There's no time left any more to be a kid.

I have several hobbies that are popular with kids (mountain biking, rock climbing, and some others).

I can assure you that there are plenty of kids with more time than I have to dedicate to these hobbies at every popular spot I go to. Many of them are ambitious, smart, and working toward top universities, too. It’s actually fun energy to be around.

The parent comment about students getting up at 6:30AM and working 15 hour days is highly unusual.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#212

Post by shimman »

odyssey7 wrote: post #109
jerlam wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People called them "weeder" classes in my university. But it's better earlier rather than later. The consequences aren't severe and you can change majors, lessen your course load, or stop those volunteer opportunities. That's part of learning how to be an adult. I knew a few people my freshmen year that were put on academic probation. They turned out all right after making some drastic changes. Others simply disappea…

Apart from the notion of a moral obligation that may now seem quaint and old-fashioned, you’re talking about their customers who are paying for an education. The responsibility rests partly on the school for solving these challenges. Declaring students “weeds” would tell you all you need to know about the place.

I'm sorry but this is straight up a non serious reply. If you want to be in STEM you need to pass calculus, then the specific majors have their own "weed out" courses which is good. There should be some base level of competence and if you can't pass, say, Abstract Algebra then you can't get a degree in mathematics.

There needs to be some sort of academic baseline for university otherwise what is the difference between a youtube playlist and a semester worth of credits?

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#213

Post by hbn »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #175

The University of Michigan has around a 15% acceptance rate. How is it possible that they’re letting in kids who aren’t ready to do college level work? What are they selecting for?

The University I went to has like an 80% acceptance rate so it's not comparable, but I was surprised when I got into 400-level CS classes and there were people who didn't know how to program at all.

Our professor assigned us to write a fast fourier transform, and when we had class next week apparently everyone claimed that it was too difficult so he changed the assignment to "find an implementation online and write about it"

I feel really grateful I graduated before the advent of LLMs because it was really easy to stand out as a good student when the standards are apparently so low.

Side tangent but in the same class he caught people zero-citation copy-pasting from Wikipedia on the papers we were assigned to write, and the guys acted like they had no idea you couldn't do that.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#214

Post by Aurornis »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #210
mrngld wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get all this existential talk about college acceptance. Yes, elite schools should expect elite applicants. Meanwhile, the state school down the road is a fraction the cost, teaches a lot of the same content, and will accept anyone with a pulse. In my state, at least. State universities are somewhat competitive to get into, but state colleges... wide open. All of which is very real-world. Certain top firms rec…

> I don't get all this existential talk about college acceptance. Yes, elite schools should expect elite applicants. As a non-US person who's worked for a bunch of US companies, my belief is that the Ivy League et al act as a class system, rather than a symbol of educational attainment.

I’ve known a lot of Ivy League graduates and they were all very smart. Most of them were very good people, too. A lot of them came from backgrounds that didn’t include wealth or social connections.

This goes against the stereotypes you read online, but many of them are motivated by a desire to sneer and cut down others’ achievements. Look up “tall poppy syndrome” for one phrase describing this phenomenon.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#215

Post by PyWoody »

joezydeco wrote: post #15

When you force high school kids to work days that are significantly longer than a normal adult to achieve a good GPA and get into a good college, you can expect that they are going to throttle back once they're away from home with way more free time than is normal. From my kid's experience: she was up at 6:30am, in AP classes by 7:30am (three more to go during the day). Classes were done by 3:00, then sports practice…

No one is forcing them to do this. This is all self-incflicted.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#216

Post by rayiner »

wolttam wrote: post #196
cm2187 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how kids have managed to deal with that for two centuries…

Live in an overall less uncertain environment?

You mean the less uncertainty during World War I, World War II, or the Cold War?

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#217

Post by red-iron-pine »

freeopinion wrote: post #165
joezydeco wrote: post #15

When you force high school kids to work days that are significantly longer than a normal adult to achieve a good GPA and get into a good college, you can expect that they are going to throttle back once they're away from home with way more free time than is normal. From my kid's experience: she was up at 6:30am, in AP classes by 7:30am (three more to go during the day). Classes were done by 3:00, then sports practice…

Just to present another reality... a lot of kids coast through high school academically. They sleep through classes or play video games on their school-provided laptops, or play on their phones all day. They know about "minimum-F" policies where submitting 0 work earns them 50%. And they don't really care about getting Ds. Then some community support program assigns them a counselor who drags them over some finish li…

> But I've seen high school valedictorians with 3.9 college GPAs graduate and struggle to find a white collar job. What is the plan for that from U Mich?

they've optimized for a highly stratified educational environment. The real world don't work like that.

Unless you stay in academia no one cares about your GPA 2 years after you leave.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#218

Post by watwut »

yrjrjjrjjtjjr wrote: post #169
watwut wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Time spent in sports is fun, not work. It is fun when it is fun, when you can skip it or do it purely because you want to. If you go to sports club because you have to, it is work and not fun. If you go volunteer or have to join the club for college application, they become work. They are not fun stuff. > Time spent in gym class and lunch is not work Gym class is work. Kids are not there voluntarily.

If your job required you to sleep 8h a night would that make it less restorative?

Sports club and volunteering are neither restorative nor relax. Sports are another competitive activity you are supposed to excel at. You dont do it to rest and relax.

You come in and do what you are told. You don't chat with friends or play around, you focus on whatever trainer told you to focus at. You dont do what you want to do, but what trainer thinks will make you more performant. And if it hurts or you are tired or just really want to do something else, you still do it.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#219

Post by mg794613 »

wolttam wrote: post #196
cm2187 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how kids have managed to deal with that for two centuries…

Live in an overall less uncertain environment?

On all fronts we are having a easier time than before. Healthcare, safety, life expectancy, disease, mental health (yes, you disagree, but it not being existant in the past kinda sets tue bar).

So what do you mean with "uncertain environment"?

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