I failed calculus twice. Lowering the bar wouldn’t have helped me

A geology professor who twice failed calculus as an undergraduate writes that the University of Michigan's brief flirtation with pass/fail grading for freshmen, meant to ease mental health strain, was the wrong fix and has already been rescinded after faculty and public pushback. She argues Yale's parallel fight over grade-inflation benchmarks shows the same tension between protecting students and maintaining standards.

Her core claim: unfair grading harms students, not low grades themselves, and coddling freshmen with softer marks signals the university doesn't believe they can succeed. She also flags artificial intelligence as a fresh complication for keeping academic standards meaningful.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.