🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello netters!

I've been reading this newsgroup for only a few weeks and have seen
a lot of posts on suicides/GPAs/tuition refunds/etc.  I thought I'd
throw in my $0.02 - hopefully this hasn't been posted too many times
before...(translation-"easy on the flames!" :-)

At MIT during the early '80s, freshman year used to be pass/fail (is
MIT back on grades for freshmen, now?).  I think my frosh year '82,
was probably the last full year that this was done.  Rumor had it that
sometime in the '70s, a lot of freshman had killed themselves over
all the work and the grades that they were getting - the year becoming
known as "leap year" :-).  And, because of that, the Institute made
the freshman classes all pass/fail.

I think a lot of freshmen wound up taking advantage of this system by
taking tough courses during their first year knowing that whatever
grade they got, it didn't matter as long as they passed.  That's when
MIT started having 1st term pass/fail, 2nd term hidden grades, etc. and
just fazing the policy out.

Anyone else hear this or know if that's why MIT had pass/fail?

Dennis Cuy

e-mail:  cuy#d#dennis@ssdgwy.mdc.com
[Usual caveats apply...]