A Broad Education

Since Harvard students are so well trained to question their established modes of thinking, here’s something to chew on. Although we may spend more hours per day studying at Lamont than sleeping, books can’t teach us everything. Reading, writing, and struggling through problem sets help us to think critically, but they’re not enough—students need more than just texts to analyze or numbers to crunch.

That’s where study-abroad programs come in. Study-abroad programs provide precisely the practical applications and new environments a completely bookish education lacks; in terms of personal development, the gains are immeasurable. And, yet, Harvard’s record in this area is sadly lacking—an ironic fact given its supposed commitment to preparing students for a multicultural world. Now more than ever, Harvard must do more to publicize study-abroad options and remove academic hurdles in order to encourage more of its students to study overseas.

Studying abroad, be it in Paris or Paraguay, provides students with invaluable tools in this increasingly global world. In most cases, it enhances language skills; in all cases, it enables contact with alternative opinions and worldviews, allowing one to understand from the outside how other countries view our own. These factors allow a student to see America, Harvard, and his or her own life in a new way.

Unfortunately, in comparison to that of other schools, the number of Harvard students who study abroad is abysmally low. Though Harvard’s statistics have improved over the past few years, we still have a long way to go to catch up with other academic institutions.

As of 2007, Harvard was sending fewer than 15 percent of its students abroad. In comparison, Dartmouth sends the most students abroad during the academic year, with 39 percent of its student population going overseas. Brown comes in second with a 35 percent study-abroad rate, and UPenn gets third place with 30 percent. If prizes were awarded, Harvard would barely get a participation sticker, let alone a place on the medal podium.

That’s a shame, especially since actively encouraging study abroad doesn’t take an institutional revamp. Many of the resources are already in place at Harvard, through institutions like the Office of International Programs, but are simply underpublicized.

These offices should emphasize more actively the importance of semester or yearlong study-abroad programs by organizing talks, publicizing pertinent information and deadlines, and working closely with departments. Students who have been abroad already should be invited more frequently to speak to others about their experiences and how those experiences have allowed them to appreciate and take advantage of all that Harvard has to offer at home.

Academically, red tape also prevents many students who might otherwise test-drive an international experience from ever even considering study abroad. Harvard should strip away these administrative roadblocks and make academic requirements more flexible so that students have more freedom to leave.

Currently, it is difficult within any concentration for students to go away during the school year—History and Literature and Social Studies students who go abroad during the spring semester, for instance, are required to write their junior papers while also doing study-abroad coursework in other countries. Students planning to study abroad must take the initiative to track down all of their academic advisors, develop a course of study that precludes courses that do not count for Harvard credit, and constantly check the Office of International Programs website for updated deadlines, as dates are not well advertised. If the process were streamlined and encouraged as an enriching part of the academic experience itself, more students might be inclined to venture outside of New England.

Harvard prides itself on the opportunities it provides its students, and that should include the chance to go and learn in any part of the world. While there is much to be said for academic rigor, the challenges of living in a new place, learning new languages, and seeing the world in a new light pushes students to learn and grow outside of the classroom. At the end of the day, there is more to an education than combing through dusty tomes. Indeed, to widen our horizons, we may have to look beyond Widener—beyond even Harvard—to the rich, fascinating world outside of our gates.


Alexandra L. Perkins ’10, a Crimson editorial comper, is a history and literature concentrator in Kirkland House.