Will six week grades hurt students?

The new school year brought along a new policy at PSU. A policy that may undermine the maturity level of our youngest students. 

A six week grade policy was enacted in an effort to keep students with less then  47 credits  aware of their academic standing. In theory, it works a lot like a middle school progress report. But these students aren't twelve anymore. 

We at The Clock understand that these measures were put in place with PSU with new students in mind. It is commendable to attempt to set students up for success from the very beginning. But are we really doing that with six-week grades? 

Think of it this way, these are mandatory grades, meaning professors must calculate and send out grades for a small number of students. In our eyes, this puts more stress on our faculty members. This adds another bulky responsibility to the faculty, while in turn, taking responsibility off new PSU students. 

We ask, aren't students supposed to learn how to be more responsible regarding grades upon entering college? Grades are somewhat easy to attain. Both the former blackboard system and Moodle allow for continuous grade updates. It's true that updating grades on a fairly regular basis is up to the discretion of individual professors. Theoretically, this creates an atmospehere where students are better able to determine their academic standing. In the past, if a student wanted to figure out his or her grade they would have to speak to the professor or take the initiative to look it up on blackboard.  . 

That's not to say that all aspects of the six-week grades policy is negative. First year and sophomore students will get a better idea of their academic standing midway through the semester. This may allow a student to receive help if they are struggling in a class. 

It really isn't a question of what's right and what's wrong. It better correlated with which is more responsible. So we ask, is this a good policy, or are we just stunting the growth of our youngest students?