Recently, there has been a lot of argument about the rules for choosing the "Pass/Fail" option for a course. While it seems like a good idea for the good ole' U-M to be a little bit nicer to the students, the idea of loosening Pass/Fail requirements, particularly with regards to what courses can and cannot be taken this way, is very threatening to the pursuit of knowledge at the University, or at any other institution.
The first problem that occurs is that the GPA system becomes severely incoherent. The performance of students at different universities, and even within different colleges at U-M, cannot be compared on the basis of the GPA because different students are allowed to have different portions of their academic experience be represented on their GPA.
Fine, you say, the GPA is a pathetic yardstick to begin with, almost as bad as the SAT. Stop. There's the fundamental problem. The GPA might be a poor benchmark of academic excellence, but it is used by countless honors societies, professional and graduate schools, and even industry to accept or reject students in many cases. Here's an example. Joe Scenario goes to Hypothetical State University, where no one can pass/fail any course. He takes French 232 there, and gets a C. Now, Johnny Exactlylikejoe takes the course here, pass/fails it, does the amount of work that would earn another student a C, and passes. Now, Joe and Johnny apply to Law school, and Johnny is picked over Joe because he's got a higher GPA (they both have all A's aside from the little French incident). It's just plain unfair. As long as the GPA remains the benchmark for so many different aspirations of the college student, universities must not exercise so much liberty with pass/fail, which inevitably destandardizes the GPA system.
Second, in a similar vein, pass/fail encourages students to do the minimum amount of work necessary to pass a class. Like it or not, students hurt themselves with pass/fail, and it lowers the quality of their education by reducing the amount of learning they do. Furthermore, this hurts all the students, because the phrase "I am a University of Michigan graduate" looses all worth when students are allowed to take an excessive number of courses in which they need not worry about anything beyond passing or failing. (When was the last time you actually failed a class?) Third, consider the classes that brooked the discussion in the first place, the fourth-term language classes that LS&A students can no longer pass/fail.
In these small classes, and others like them, including discussions, where participation is necessary to make the class work, all of the students in the class are hurt by each student taking the class pass/fail. When a grade is not on the line, many students will just sit back and idle through the class. It is unfair to the professors involved to have to teach disinterested, apathetic students, and it is equally unfair to the other students in the class, who get less attention and who are held back by the students electing the course pass/fail.
It is true that, in a perfect world, students would take courses pass/fail when they are truly interested in them, and will strive to understand the material. However, if this is the case, students should not need to apply those courses to fulfill requirements necessary for their graduation. In most of universities, and at least throughout the undergraduate education at U-M, any course that does not actually fulfill requirements for graduation can be pass/failed. In fact, these courses can be audited, in which case students need not even worry about failing, let alone getting a poor grade. And if students are adamant about having the course on their transcripts, then they should also be adamant that their grades appear there, as a grade is sure to be more impressive than a pass.
In reality, it is not wise to widen the restrictions placed on pass/fail, to protect students and professors alike and to prevent the U-M from being considered a mediocre institute. If a course is necessary for graduation, or if a student wants to have it on a final transcript to impress employers or graduate schools, then the course should be graded. If a course is not necessary for graduation, and is merely taken to fill space or to broaden a student's education, then it should be available for pass/fail election. These guidelines are more than enough to solve the pass/fail dilemma.