Everyone knows academia is pretty much screwed beyond repair. What were once epicenters of innovation are now breeding grounds for rotund blue-haired warthogs who feed on victimhood. Due much in part to coddling from their superiors. Take this silly little story for example. For fear of hurting their precious feelings, a professor at the University of Georgia is letting his students pick their own grades.

A University of Georgia professor has adopted a “stress reduction policy” that will allow students to select their own grades if they “feel unduly stressed” by the ones they earned.

...if students feel “unduly stressed by a grade for any assessable material or the overall course,” they can “email the instructor indicating what grade [they] think is appropriate, and it will be so changed” with “no explanation” being required.

Similarly, when it comes to “tests and exams” for Watson’s “Data Management” and “Energy Informatics” courses, all will be “open book and open notes” and “designed to assess low level mastery of the course material.”

...for in-class presentations, Watson will allow “only positive comments” to be made, while “comments designed to improve future presentations will be communicated by email.”

Watson, notably, does concede that “while this policy might hinder the development of group skills and mastery of the class material,” those outcomes are ultimately a student’s “responsibility,” though he promises to “provide every opportunity for [students] to gain high level mastery.”

"Hindering development" sounds about right. I'm sure the students are going to be very responsible and realistic with their self-grading.

What use are grades if the students can just petition for an increase? Plus, isn't learning to cope with stress a vital part of being an adult? Our "educators" are already removing class rankings and valedictorian statuses from schools to appease the dumber kids. There's no sign of that stopping anytime soon. Before long, we'll be handing out medical degrees to every two-bit dunce who walks in the door.

It may not be the most comforting thought, but the real world cares very little for peoples feelings. One thing they do care about though? Getting results. As in employing people who know every in and out of their trade. Call me a pessimist, but I highly doubt setting fire to the grade book is going to produce masterful students.

How does this scenario end? Everyone loses. Employers, colleagues, customers. Everybody. Especially the students themselves, who leave school dumber than they went in, but with an overinflated sense of self-worth. Not to mention a mountain of debt. American campuses have been slipping the slope for a long time. But, if this story is any indication, they may be inches away from going over the edge.

Speaking of that.

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