The news that Marshall University is considering switching to a Pass or Fail grading system is worrisome to many students.

Most students attending college are doing so in hopes of finding a career in their particular area of study post-graduation. It is, for this reason, the principal of switching to a pass/fail system during this time is fundamentally flawed. Those currently in the workforce and being forced to work from home are still expected to rise to the challenge and produce the most that they can given the circumstances, so therefore why should we change the system?

Besides the flawed logic in the switch to a pass/fail system, there are countless other reasons to avoid the switch as well as detailed below . 

• Rising up to a challenge such as the one we as students are facing makes us all more resilient individuals and is potentially a learning experience as it is unlikely that this will be the last pandemic that we will face in our lifetime.  
• Students that work hard to achieve an "A" while overcoming the circumstances should not be rewarded the same as a student performing at a "C" level.
• Pass/Fail grading doesn't allow for students to raise their GPA; an important number for those wishing to attend graduate school or earn scholarships.
• It will likely require less work to obtain a pass grade, so therefore, students will be studying less and makes the change of education with respect to the pandemic even more damaging to our future careers. 
• Professional and Graduate schools prefer to see letter grades as they are indicative of an individuals preparedness and work ethic. Most schools would likely take the switch to online classes into account if an individual's grades are significantly lower during this semester. However,  pass/fail would take away the opportunity that a potential student could use to prove their readiness to such school.