Did they not get marks in high school? Given that they are now university students, they must have – you don’t get in without good grades.

At the University of Michigan this fall, new students will no longer be told grades in many of the courses they take.. It is for their mental health. Apparently students stress about their marks. At least the good ones do.

I suspect I was never a good student. I love to learn, but never made much effort and my marks reflected that. I didn’t stress over whether I had an A, and A+ or even a B.

That turns out to have been a reasonable approach. No employer has ever asked for my school transcripts. For that matter, I have never had to prove I finished any level of education. I have no idea if anyone has ever checked my resume, but I doubt it.

I understand that for many people grades, whether a letter or percentage can be stressful. However, life is stressful. We need to learn how to deal stress, not how to avoid it.

After a year without marks will these students be ready to receive them in second year? Nobody knows. It might be even more stressful.

In the workplace, which most university students aspire to, there are expectations and standards for performance. Employers are concerned about employees’ mental health, but they aren’t going to coddle them. Work must be done, targets must be met. if you can’t handle the pressure, maybe you are in the wrong job.

Mental health issues seem much more prevalent among young people than when I was in that age bracket. I doubt the pressures are greater (no nuclear attack drills these days), but the coping mechanisms seem to have taken a hit. Deferring pressure doesn’t seem to me to be a long-term solution – the stresses are always going to be there.

So what do we as a society need to do to better prepare young people for the challenges they will face as adults? I have ideas, but I want to hear yours first.