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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’

#251

Post by [deleted] »

estearum wrote: post #60
vjulian wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working like a dog like this is necessary if you’re gunning for the elite / upper echelon of society, yes. If you’re already in that echelon of society, it’s not necessary. Thank goodness I didn’t need to work so hard, but I can acknowledge what a shitty system it is. Help me understand why these children or their parents are gunning in this manner and working like dogs in this manner, to join into and propagate such…

Because having money is a lot better than not having money

[deleted]

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

#253

Post by collabs »

giantg2 wrote: post #229
hbn wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a…

I went to a state school. The quality varied wildly depending on the department. It was very eye opening in the general English/writing classes when encountering people who couldn't read or write above a 4th grade level. The difference between they're, their, and there was like a riddle to some of them. Of course many didn't make it more than a semester or two. That's the big thing - the college might be dropping the…

> The quality varied wildly depending on the department.

I feel like it has always been this way. I went to a small private university. The natural sciences and especially the pre-med students had their days fully packed, like the only time you could even have a moment to talk about anything was at the cafeteria during meals.

Then there was the business department. The college athletes apparently picked business as a major because you have to pick something. You couldn't guess what was their preferred minor and why... The overwhelming preferred minor was music because the buildings for department of business and music were adjacent.

Compare that to the pre meds who were always worried about getting a B and somehow "ruining their chances at med school".

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

#255

Post by ajcp »

alephnerd wrote: post #239
ajcp wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And even then there's no guarantee you'll get in. > yet when universities start taking steps to help reduce that they start kvetching Your argument is hard to follow. It is prohibitively hard, to the point of being unhealthy, to getting admitted to the University of Michigan. Okay, but how does this policy solve for or address that in any way? Wouldn’t the solution be to increase capacity to meet demand, thus relie…

It gives students one semester of breathing room that allows them to chill out and concentrate on education for the sake of education. And UMich Ann Arbor is already massive - 8,000 students enroll a year.

But, again, the University of Michigan’s own admissions policies created the need for the students to “chill out”. Is this not treating a symptom of the problem, not the motivator?

Also 32,000 undergrads is not “massive” by any measurement[0], especially when accounting for the population of the state of Michigan, much less the broader United States.

O. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_public_u...

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

#256

Post by c7b »

Fwiw, afaik in most Oxford and Cambridge degrees the only exams that count towards your grade are in the final year or the final two years. Everything before that is basically preparation, and the colleges doing weekly supervision and regular mock exams to keep tabs who is on track to pass and who needs extra attention. I've never heard there was a problem with a lack of rigor or recognition for the degrees awarded there. So U of Michigan taking a small step in that direction shouldn't be the end of the world either.

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

#257

Post by odyssey7 »

shimman wrote: post #212
odyssey7 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 betwee…

Can the school teach its students calculus or does it take money from people, fail to teach them calculus, call them “weeds,” and kick them to the curb? The responsibility runs both ways.

I am definitely not saying that students should pass without learning the material. I am emphasizing that schools and instructors also have a responsibility to teach their students, both morally and financially. Just because the norm is to behave amorally and with greed, that doesn’t make it proper.

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

#259

Post by doctorwho42 »

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?

If it was tracked, graded, and effected your outcomes (salary & prospects)... Id bet you'd say it was less restorative!

Like can you honestly say you'd feel rested if you had to wear a Fitbit like device to bed owned by your company to track your sleep?

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

#260

Post by colpabar »

halls-940 wrote: post #249
anself wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not actually less certain now than it was then. It’s just the media has gotten louder. Cuban missilie crisis, civil rights, world wars, nuclear weapons, it has all been happening for a while.

When you look at real wages vs cost of living and the trend line is down and showing no signs of ever going back up, the question will I be able to afford the resources to survive and have a family, will my kids be able to afford a home, that's the growing uncertainty.

Did you worry about any of those things as a freshman?
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