Harvard's new limit on 'A' grades is unlikely to work

File: TIME

A cap on A grades in undergraduate courses was recently approved by Harvard College. It stated that an A could make up no more than 20% of the grades awarded in any college course.

However, many have an issue with Harvard's new policy. This is because policies requiring grade caps, particularly on As, have proven unsuccessful in almost every institution where they have been implemented. In 2014, Princeton abandoned a comparable cap. Wellesley College implemented its own harsh regulation in 2019, requiring average course grades to be limited to B+. 

According to Washington Post, there was a report written by faculty committee of Princeton college that revealed graduates being concerned over competitiveness in the job market compared to colleges with no A grade cap. Princeton undergraduates also claimed, through a poll, feeling as if they were exclusively focused on grades rather than feedback, and that their classes had become extremely competitive. It clear that the grade cap policy failed for Princeton.

Meanwhile Wellesley College's grade regulation policy also failed because of similar unintended consequences. For instance, the departments most affected by the cap were the social sciences and humanities, which have higher grade rates. Because disciplines like economics and the sciences already grant fewer A ratings, there are inconsistent grading standards between majors.

It is unclear whether Harvard is trying to examine whether capping A grades is effective or ineffective.