Staff Editorial: A free ride to go abroad

Penn's study abroad programs and policies are far from perfect. Inequalities exist from school to school in the education that students are offered, the work they are asked to produce and the grades they receive. In a move that presumably recognizes these inequalities, the Provost's Council on Arts and Culture has passed a new policy that will exclude grades earned while studying abroad from a student's cumulative grade point average. The change is largely a result of the difficulty that officials have in converting these grades to the scale used at Penn. Some foreign schools grade on a more difficult scale than others, and some do not even give out letter grades. These differences make it exceedingly difficult for the University to evaluate the grades that students receive while abroad. We agree that more must be done to standardize the study abroad programs to ensure that all students receive the "equivalent" of a Penn education. But while this new policy has been created in good faith, it may have unintended side effects that could prove harmful to the study abroad program and de-emphasize academics. The fact of the matter is that not all abroad programs are equal. Some students work harder to earn an "A" while they are abroad than they do in Philadelphia. Others, though, look at their time abroad as a cultural experience, not an academic endeavor. And while there are a multitude of reasons to study abroad -- some academic, some not -- these programs should be sponsored by Penn for their educational value, not their location. Deputy Provost Peter Conn says he believes students will be motivated to put in the work even if they are not graded on their performance. In an ideal world, Conn is right, and that logic does apply to a certain percentage of Penn students. But for the numerous students who would likely take the absence of grades as a free ride, this policy is too costly to maintain. Allowing even a handful of students to slack off while they are abroad is in direct contrast to the mission of the program. While we would like to believe that students would maintain their level of interest without the pressure of grades, we cannot afford to make that assumption. The former grading system had its flaws, but it was a method of holding students accountable for their performance overseas, a measure that the University must take.

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