What's the point of a D grade?
Not much, according to one North Carolina community college.
In 2010, Stanly Community College faculty and advisers realized that the long-held tradition of educators using an A-through-F grading scale didn't help students who were on transfer pathways or who needed to complete sequential courses -- meaning courses that require prerequisites. That was due in part to the grade of D, because while students could pass a course with the grade, they weren't allowed to move on to the next course in a sequence or transfer to an institution that required a C or higher.
So the math and English departments at the college made a simple change: they stopped awarding D’s.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/02/09/north-carolina-community-colleges-elimination-ds-leads-transfer-success