When I was at Brown, the policy of dropping F's from the transcript was celebrated as a means of encouraging experimentation, which is exactly the way the policy worked for me. I was a very motivated student, as was everyone else I knew there. We all worked really hard. There was a fascinating course about human evolution I wanted to take, but it required a lot of advanced math. I was a history major. The professor encouraged me to try it anyway. Well you know what? I failed that class. But I still love that I had the courage to try it. I actually learned a lot from it. I never would have taken it if I were just obsessed with my GPA and the grade really counted. I was there because I was excited about learning, not because I cared so much about grades. Isn't that what we want for our kids?