@Bilbo: Apart from the other criticisms: What problem does this actually solve? Any well-designed course will have some assignments (or parts thereof) that are more difficult than the base level; same for the exam. In the course material, advanced content is marked as such (“for the distinguished reader”).

@Wrzlprmft It doesn't solve any real problem. It is designed to solve the imaginary problem that we have different course numbers for the same course. There are people who think it's bad to have "Linear Algebra" and "Honors Linear Algebra". They think everyone should sit in the same classroom. So how can grade linear algebra and honors linear algebra together? That's one motivation.

Isn’t the distinction between the regular and honours course exactly what grades are for?

@Wrzlprmft Maybe no? Well, you can get A in regular and honor courses doing different amount/kind of work, right? Now imagine you can do that in the same classroom. There are multiple path ways to an A in the same classroom. That's the idea.

@Bilbo Well, you want to abolish the distinction between regular and honours courses and have those people in the same classroom. I get that. But then, what would those distinctions express that grades cannot?

There are multiple ways to a good grade in a regular one-classroom system already. What does your proposed system offer on top of that?