College is supposed to be a place where you find out what you want to do for a career by picking a major if you did not already know coming in. On top of having to meet certain requirements to complete your major or minor, the school has you complete other courses to fulfill your general education requirements.
These classes can have a huge impact on your grades if not kept up with. These classes, being totally unrelated to the major you are studying, have an impact on your GPA here at Oswego State.
It is understandable that when someone becomes a junior they can start to take non-major related classes as pass/fail, but what is not understandable is why they have to wait for that to be so.
The first two years of college are when your grades are going to be the worst. It is the time where one is adjusting from high school and turning into a college student. Keep in mind this is about just classes that are not related to your major/minor. Why would someone only be able to do it their junior or senior year? If it cannot all be offered for all years in college, then at the very least make it the first two. This gives one time to adjust without having to worry about grades as much as you already do. It also gives them time to put their main focus on their major so they can feel comfortable and know what to expect with the workload. Then, as they mature as a student and are able to take on more responsibilities it would be appropriate to open up those non-major related classes to formal grading.
Another added benefit with taking classes as pass/fail is that students can easily explore a potential major change, or just general interest without having major regret about your decision to take the class, while at the same time earning credits for their graduation. Some people could argue that it would just make students not want to apply themselves as much, and they are right, to a point. Yes, they have the ability to not apply themselves as much but they still need to pass the course to get the credit. They will be learning something whether they want to or not. They cannot blow off the work. The entire concept behind it is to search for things you love and not worry about things you do not, while still expanding your knowledge.
College is about self-discovery and even I can say I have discovered some classes that I did not like and suffered because of it. If you can not put your heart into it, it is not going to be a good outcome no matter how hard you try. The classes you love and have related interests in are a breeze, and almost do not even feel like a burden. The opposite is the case for those you do not. Schools, especially colleges, need to reassess how they grade and look at students based on their intelligence in a more modernized way, rather than use an outdated grading system that does not mix well with our generation and those to come.
