The reaction of students to Johns Hopkins University's revised policy of revealing first semester grades on transcripts is telling indeed ("Grading policy change draws protests at Johns Hopkins," May 30). The first paragraph of the article describes student reaction as "outrage." The quotations that follow say more about student attitudes than the university's policy.
One of the organizers of the protest, Erica Taicz, says, "I'm paying so much, I expect to be able to be critical of [the university's] service when it doesn't support me." She continues, "I'm paying to have a support network, academic and mentally. I can't be expected to do well in class if I'm depressed and have anxiety." And finally, "If the school is worsening my anxiety, that's their problem and they need to be held accountable."
I am almost amused at such a revealing self-portrait — revealing of narcissism, entitlement because "I'm paying so much," expectation of being supported academically and mentally, and the ultimate abdication of responsibility: I'm depressed and anxious so I shouldn't have to do well in class. The school is responsible for this snowflake's anxiety, it's the school's problem and the school should be held responsible!
When I attended graduate school at Hopkins in the 1970's, it was a largely conservative campus. Students were orderly and intent on academics. Their conversations as I passed them on the quad were strikingly intelligent. Now we have a generation that, Ms. Taicz's complaint to the contrary, has indeed been coddled and taught unrealistic expectations. She and her peers are outraged; they demonstrate and demand the university apologize for not including students in the policy decision.
Balderdash all. Hopkins is not a mental health service. If competition is, as she describes, "cutthroat," it may be she is not qualified for a highly competitive academic environment. The demand that grades for first semester work continue to be concealed is actually an admission of personal academic inadequacy.
My first semester as an undergraduate was disastrous. I had no idea how to study demanding science subjects, and my grades were ignominious. But I picked up and improved when I transferred to a less academically demanding college. Perhaps these students are in over their heads. Perhaps they should not have enrolled in a prestigious university like Hopkins.
I suggest that JHU administrators ignore outrage, protests and demands and never, ever apologize to these infants. As for my academic career, I was subsequently admitted to Hopkins' graduate program with a merit fellowship for which I remain appreciative. The years there were the most academically stimulating of my life and capped by a prize for most distinguished master's essay.
I pulled myself up out of a bad first semester. Why do these current students fail to take responsibility for their inadequacies? Easier to blame the university's lack of mental health facilities. It never occurred to me that a "D" in chemistry was a psychological issue rather than an academic one. These babies need to grow up or transfer to a school more within their academic abilities.
Eileen Pollock, Baltimore