2020 will go down as one of the most unusual and stressful years in our country's history. This semester there are many factors causing anguish. Students should not be concerned about losing their mental sanity over a grade in a class. In our current times, Hokies should be focused on the most critical task at hand, our physical and mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense amounts of hardship, and we should be focused on staying safe and healthy, not what grade we receive over a Zoom class. The learning environment is currently subpar, and the inadequate setting should not penalize our futures. Some students will never take an online course in college simply because they do not learn well on the computer. Today, those students are forced to take their classes online or risk their wellbeing by going to an in-person class. As a university, we need to uphold our number one value: Ut Prosim, That I May Serve, and serve our students by taking away the stress of grades.

The emphasis needs to go back to what is most important, learning and our wellbeing. Last semester, Virginia Tech eased online classes' difficulty by allowing students to choose between a traditional grading scale and the Credit/No-Credit option. Virginia Tech needs to adopt this strategy and alleviate the additional stress placed on both the students and the professors.