60 Percent of Grades at Harvard Were A’s. Enough Is Enough.

By Jason Furman and David Laibson

Mr. Furman, a contributing Opinion writer, and Mr. Laibson are economists at Harvard University.

In a vote whose results were announced on Wednesday, Harvard faculty decided to do something we have talked about for decades but never managed to pull off: cap the number of full A’s in every course. The new rule imposes a “20 plus four” formula, meaning only about 20 percent of the students in a course can receive full A’s. (The asterisk is that it’s actually 20 percent plus four more students, an adjustment that’s designed for small, advanced seminars that tend to be more collaborative.)

Now comes the hard part — making sure this change improves the education we offer, something that........

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