A Different Curriculum

To the editors:

I read in your survey on happiness (Scrutiny, Feb. 3) that some Harvard undergraduates may be overworked and miserable. Having been there myself (the misery part, not the overwork), I have a few pearls of wisdom to cast before the community.

Harvard used to have a sports requirement in freshman year. This was sort of a good idea, although most students, like me, thought it was a bore and a bother. The problem was that these classes aimed to teach sports--i.e., games--to people who would never play them again.

Instead, Harvard should offer classes that teach simple skills and pleasures that will be useful to men and women whose lives are likely to be both sedentary and stressful. Classes should have a pleasant mix of walking, simple 5-minute calisthenics, breathing exercises and the like--stuff which will actually be useful in later life.

How about offering voluntary non-credit classes in simple auto mechanics (so that you will know how to locate and change a bad fuse or a worn belt), in gardening, in cooking, in home repair and so on? Classes could meet, say, Saturday mornings or Wednesday evenings--no homework, no tests and no grades.

Non-pressure classes along these lines, taught by some of Harvard's maintenance staff, might be both diverting and useful for your entire life. It would also introduce you to teachers who have something good to impart, even though they do not have Ph.D's. JOHN PLOTZ '69   Berkeley, Calif., March 17, 1999