We have all heard of "delayed success" initiatives instead of "F" grading...Mark Potashin, a Richmond Hill Teacher writes in the Toronto Star write-in editorials:

"my biggest concern is the rapid decline in the expectations placed on students and the lack of consequences they face...students are not penalized for non-completion of assignments or not meeting deadlines. The reasons are financial and political."

I have been saying this myself for years now. Students are not developing the knowledgebase and skill sets students did fifteen years ago. Mass higher education is not working as promoted. I agree social connectivity and presentation skills are much improved over my generation, but there is more to learning and working in the job market than those skills. Students are coming equipped with what 20% of what employers need? Folks are graduating feeling they are entitled to a great high paying job when in fact, their learning has just begun. It is all about on the job training, since the schools have not kept up with the needs of the information economy.

This is not to say the problem is one sided, lots of faculty need to be put out to pasture. They'd fail kids because they are horrible teachers (old material, poor pedagogy). Weed the faculty corps, unhinge funding from graduation rate, and let faculty fail students who do not perform. We have to disband the status-quo, which in undermining the return on investment of higher education. Both personally and publically.