Originally Posted by indigo
Originally Posted by Tigerle
Coming from a continental European perspective where unis will let you succeed or fail on your own without the least bit of pressure but with hearty indifference
It is my understanding that students in the United States also succeed or fail uni on their own, so I am unclear as to what you are referring to. Would you clarify, please?

I'll bite. Most of my tertiary education (undergraduate through Ph.D.) was in two European countries.

A major difference is that European universities don't use GPAs. Two things matters most over there: your score on your final exams in fourth year, and, when applicable, the quality of your final-year project. The exams measure the knowledge you've acquired, and the project measures your ability to apply it.

A major consequence of this approach is that students don't stress out over grades for the entirety of their educations.

Many Americans argue that putting everything on one exam is too stressful, but IME/O, the stress is no greater than the stress American students face consistently the entire time they're in college. Looking back on it, it was far less stressful than the constant quizzes and exams here.

The European approach says, "We care about what you've learned by the end of the program." The American approach says, "Every mistake counts."

The European system is also more forgiving of failure. If you bomb say, your second-year exams, you repeat the year. The scores don't haunt you forever because again, all that truly counts is the exams at the end of fourth year. The fees are much lower there than they are here, so the financial consequences aren't so devastating. In addition, if you have a scholarship (generally because of low family income), you lose the scholarship during the repeated year and get it back again the next year, assuming you pass your exams (at least, that's how it worked where I was).

Some Americans may argue that this system encourages laziness and a poor work ethic, but it's well known that US college dropout rates are increasing and are ahead of most other OECD nations. For example, roughly 90% of UK students who enter university graduate. If the no-GPA system makes UK students lazy, why do so many get a degree?