Letter to the Editor: Free time

To the Editor:

I read with astonishment Dr. Ponzy Lu's letter ("Appropriate credit," DP, 10/14/05) indicating that each class credit should involve a commitment of 18 hours per week.

Dr. Lu's proposed schedule left "22-40 hours for eating, fornicating etc." This amount of time is ridiculous. In addition to eating and fornicating, students' lives involve working part-time jobs, participating in campus groups, walking between various locations, assorted errands, showering, dressing, basic bodily functions, interacting with friends and family, relaxing and trying to become mature, balanced adults.

Yes, we're here to learn, and we're paying a lot of money for our education. But there are so many ways to learn, and the classroom is only the beginning of our educational experience. At Penn, I've learned about multivariable calculus, market segmentation, 20th-century American poetry and more uses for Microsoft Excel than I thought possible. But the most important lessons I've learned here have been about self-sufficiency, cohabitation, mental wellness, mature friendships, taking action and the benefits of a good meal and a good hug on a bad day.

I would never have learned so many of those things if I had devoted myself to the academic schedule that Dr. Lu proposed, and I would never have gotten as much out of my Penn education.

Connie Meng

Wharton '07

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