There are other ways to grade. The point system has always been lazy, about as effective at predicting competence and success as standardized testing. What really predicts success is how rich your parents are. Sure there are rich fuckups, but not having to take care of parents or younger siblings while living on the poverty line sure helps.
It's not an easy problem to solve, and this idea of "tough love, kick them in the ass" is basically perpetuating the idea of working yourself to death and hating yourself because that's what the smartest guy on hacker news says should happen. Hell 80% of the graduates are gonna be burger flippers, Walmart greeters, street cleaners, and all the jobs that aren't elite hacker positions.
*It's not like a straight A student is going to stop getting straight A's because we didn't punish the poor kids and underachievers hard enough.*
The hate directed at this article is endemic of fear. Absolute fear that someone will get more than you. Something they don't deserve, so punish them hard and punish them early. Which is disgusting, and is the narrative the far right has been pushing for the past four decades. From welfare queens to demonizing SNAP. It's all the same cycle of hate.