But he argues against the theory that academics and extracurriculars are locked in a zero-sum game and instead questions, “Why we have the problem in the first place that our academic life is less satisfying to our students than our extracurricular offerings.”

“Looking at the academic side in isolation doesn’t get to the root of the issue; it isn’t just that academic life is not good enough and needs improving,” he wrote to Kirby.

Lewis says that interpersonal interaction is the key draw of extracurriculars, and one of its prime pedagogical benefits.

“The thing that students almost always do when involved in extracurriculars that they almost never do when in their academic lives is to work together with other students,” Lewis adds.

After interviewing over a thousand Harvard students, Light wrote in his 2001 book Making the Most of College that when asked to identify a “specific, critical incident...that changed them profoundly, four-fifths of [students] chose a situation or event outside of the classroom.”

Lewis says that in meeting after meeting with alumni, they warmly recall their college memories outside of the classroom.

Asked to reflect on her first-year at Harvard, Andrea M. Ellwood ’06, whose outside commitments include singing a capella in the Veritones and tutoring, responds without hesitation that it was in an extracurricular activity that she discovered her niche. “My a capella group was what made this year amazing,” Ellwood says. “The friendship that I got out of that...really brought me into the College more than any of my classes.”

Light says these extracurricular commitments can enrich student experience and education by offering alternatives to a structured curriculum and opportunities to develop life skills. He also surmises Harvard students appreciate the chance to “set the agenda,” an opportunity which some extracurricular activities provide. “When students are in classes they are carrying out the professor’s assignments, whereas in just about every extracurricular activity, students create their own assignments from scratch,” Light says.

Light and others say students are taught leadership and teamwork skills in their extracurricular activities—qualities that are often hard to exercise in a classroom setting.

“You don’t get to be a leader sitting in the ninth row, taking notes,” Light says.

Extracurriculars also have implications for the Harvard education in a grander sense.

“In addition to being a source of enjoyment...extracurriculars are collaborative activities, teaching about how to work effectively with others, how to play by rules of leadership or followership,” Bok says.

Alex S. Captain ’06, who is involved with the International Review and works with the Model United Nations organizations on campus, also says extracurricular activities prepare students for the future.

“Extracurriculars show what you can do outside of school and show that you have the common sense and leadership ability. That kind of shows you can get things done in a real-world context,” Captain says.

Integration by Parts