Readers Say

As Harvard weighs a cap on A’s, readers question whether the policy would make grading fairer or more arbitrary.

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Harvard is weighing a question with major stakes for students: Should there be a limit on how many A’s a class can receive?

The university is voting this week on the proposal that would cap A grades at 20% of a class, while allowing professors to award up to four additional A’s in beyond that limit. The proposal comes after a university report found that A’s account for more than 60% of grades awarded at the university.

We asked readers where they stand. Of the nearly 100 readers who responded to our informal poll, 58% said A’s should not be capped. Another 36% said they should, while 5% said it depends.

Many readers who opposed the idea argued that grades should reflect mastery of the material, not a fixed class ranking. Several said that if every student meets the standard for an A, every student should receive one.

“If a student’s output reflects quality effort deserving of an A, then they earn the A,” Erin from Nashua wrote. “If students are not being challenged enough, that burden should fall on the educator.”

Others saw the proposal as unfairly competitive, saying it could discourage collaboration and make grading feel more like a quota system.

“Your ability to learn material and demonstrate your knowledge and understanding should not be based on someone else’s ability,” Greg from Easton wrote.

But readers who supported a cap said Harvard’s grades have become so inflated that they no longer carry much meaning. Some said an A should signal truly exceptional work, not serve as the default grade at an elite institution.

“Harvard is an elite school where everyone should not receive an A,” a reader from Gloucester wrote.

A few readers landed somewhere in the middle, saying the answer may depend on the type of class. Some argued a cap might make more sense in subjective humanities courses than in math or science classes where answers are more objectively right or wrong.

Below is a sampling of reader responses.

Responses may be lightly edited for grammar and clarity.

Should the number of A’s be capped per class?

No

“If a student’s output reflects quality effort deserving of an A, then they earn the A. If students are not being challenged enough, that burden should fall on the educator.” — Erin, Nashua

“If a student deserves an A, then they should get an A.” — A Boston.com reader

“Why would it be capped if the student earned it?” — MD

“If you earn an A, you deserve the A. They use this tactic in companies. Only a certain percentage of the group can get a review rating of ‘exceeded expectations’ — the corporate A. It discourages hard work if you can’t get the acknowledgement for it. Makes for bad feelings.” — Nina C., Randolph

“Because if a student does the work to earn the A, why should they have to run the risk of not getting the A they earned? It sounds like the faculty have been the ones creating the problem by not grading in a consistent manner based on the work done by the students.” — Roy G., Boston

“Grades are a measure of how well you are doing in relation to the material. It has absolutely no relation to how your peers in the class are doing. If too many people are getting A’s, change the course material, or be thankful you are a good teacher.” — J., Plympton

“Sometimes you get a class full of excellent students, and sometimes one full of turkeys. Students shouldn’t have to compete with each other. You just need reasonable standards, which admittedly are hard to design.” — Mike, Saugus

“If you learned the material well enough to get an A, you should get an A. To artificially cap grading like that is just cheating people.” — Liz, Arlington

“What kind of question is this? Absolutely not. If 25 out of 25 students did A-quality work, then 25 out of 25 deserve an A.” — Conor, North End

“Capping the number of A’s is a ludicrous idea. Why not just maintain a consistently high standard that warrants an A and stick to it? No curve, no quota. If every student exceeds that standard, they all deserve A’s. If none of them do, then none deserve an A.” — Kevin K., Arlington

“No cap on A’s. If a student earned the A under the class syllabus guidelines, they should get an A. If too many A’s is really a problem, make the courses harder.” — A Boston.com reader

“It seems that if you cap A’s, the grading becomes quota based. Why are the students being penalized? Maybe they should dig deeper and see what the professors can do to remedy the problem, if there is even one.” — Peter W., Beaufort, S.C.

“Your ability to learn material and demonstrate your knowledge and understanding should not be based on someone else’s ability. And a teacher should be working toward everyone getting A’s, in a fair manner. It means they are good teachers. Education should be about helping students find their own best ways to learn the material and then supporting that way to help them be successful. Otherwise, you’re not an educator, you’re just an evaluator.” — Greg, Easton

“Classes should be appropriately challenging, and anyone earning a top grade should get it.” — Exit S., Norwell

“Once again, Harvard stumbles. Instead of giving A’s based on merit and achievement, Harvard wants to penalize performance rather than raise the bar. Not fair to the students at all.” — Alan D., Fayetteville, Ark.

Yes

“Harvard is an elite school where everyone should not receive an A.” — S., Gloucester

“What ever happened to objective final exams? By the way, does this apply to medical school?” — Traindoc, Edmond, Okla.

“Grade inflation is out of control. What used to be a B or even a C in my class is now an A, and not by my choice. I give half the amount of work, easier work, but give out higher grades. The whole grading system has become skewed.” — A Boston.com reader

“Unless there is a rule to cap A’s, the students, as a group over time using soft power, will not allow teachers to give them any grade except an A, which has basically already happened. So grades lose all meaning.” — Tony M., Brighton

“Silly to give everyone A’s.” — Mark F., Framingham

“Because too many teachers have become spineless.” — Jeff M., Framingham

“It needs to be a bell curve. That may change from time to time, but it’s pretty simple.” — Richard C., Back Bay

“But such tradeoffs are worth a world where a grade means what it should — a level of mastery of material. Sums it up.” — James, Arlington

“Easy A’s are not A’s. A limited amount of A’s creates intellectual competition.” — Gwen G., Brookline

“If there are unlimited A’s, grades become meaningless.” — Charlie, North Shore

It depends

“For subjective courses in liberal arts, I believe a cap would be helpful. These courses’ results can be stack ranked within the class. However, for courses that have right vs. wrong answers, like science, math, engineering, etc., I don’t understand how you could or would need to cap grades.” — John, Quincy

“Is the class too easy?” — Scott, Hanover

“I think an oversight is that there are objective classes with zero subjectivity where it is fully common to have more than 25% of the students get an A. Consider college algebra: all exams and quizzes, no curving. If 25 people in a class of 50 get perfect scores, then how do you choose who doesn’t get the A? Whoever finishes fastest? Because that’s ludicrous.” — Tanner C., Miami