As a graduate student at the University of Illinois, I was sent into a panic when I walked into one of my classes first semester and my professor told me there would be no grades. 

I have stressed myself out every year before then to get a good grade in each of my classes. I had been used to it since elementary school. Many other students and I have been conditioned to value a grade more than anything else.

I have had sleepless nights, missed meals, been hyped up on caffeine and gone into dissociation just to finish an assignment and get a good grade. During those times, I failed to fully engage and immerse myself in the content and be present in what I was learning.

Grades are a major source of stress for students at all levels of education and can be linked to anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. Additionally, academic pressure diminishes students’ self-esteem and self-worth.

Why should we reduce students down to a letter grade? Prioritizing grades over mental health is just not worth it.

We need to be encouraging schools to help students find value within themselves and other aspects of life instead of a letter grade. Learning, engaging and enjoying the content is much more fulfilling than seeing an A in the gradebook. 

I wish more professors would be like the one I had, because I will never forget the opportunity they gave me to be fully present in learning — something that I felt I never got before.

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