The Human Stories of the Coronavirus Pandemic – The New York Times

But there was a voice of caution:

Not to rain on the parade, but P/F is also much more institutionally OK at MIT (all first year classes are P/F, to allow people to acclimate to college). So Im not saying its impossible to do, could be HUGE for the program, but also the institutional view on P/F is very different.

Another Chicago student brought up the problem of students who really did need the grades they expected to earn.

Some students might have low GPAs that theyre looking to increase, which they wouldnt be able to do under a P/F policy something to keep in mind.

A third student interjected that in these extraordinary times, professors might be more flexible than usual:

I strongly suspect it wont be hard to get Profs who just give wall to wall As in the spring ? Probably not in certain departments (we all know who Im talking about), but I genuinely think its likely most Professors are more willing to grade inflate everyone.

Tellingly, there is a precedent for that last students theory.

Patrick Healy, then a reporter with The Boston Globe and now the editor of the politics desk of The New York Times, wrote a story in 2001 recounting how some historians trace grade inflation at Harvard to the War in Vietnam.

Students realized they needed evidence to show they werent just messing around in college to avoid the draft, George Flynn, a historian and author of The Draft, 1940-1973, told Mr. Healy.

The war just set off inflation at Harvard, Henry Rosovsky, who joined the economics faculty in 1965, was quoted as saying. Professors gave higher grades to protect them.

In case you were wondering, N.Y.U. Law announced last Wednesday that it was adopting a Credit/Fail grading policy for all Spring 2020 semester courses. The announcement to students admitted that the policy could come at a cost to incentives and fairness, and urged everyone to try to mitigate those. The announcement read:

Where students are aware that they will receive the same credit for a course almost regardless of their performance, they may not invest significant effort in their work. This is particularly so when a health crisis places other demands on their time and attention. In adopting this shift in grading policy, the Law School faculty are counting on everyone in our community to encourage participation of students who might be disengaged.

The University of Chicago has yet to announce any changes.

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The Human Stories of the Coronavirus Pandemic - The New York Times