The Brown curriculum cultivates student responsibility and stands as a chief comparative advantage attracting and binding students and faculty to Brown and to one another ("Staying the Course," Elms, September/October).

No curricular design can serve all needs, and great courses are even more important than a sound set of curricular rules and guidelines. The new curricular review provides impetus for improving upon Brown's signature design. More opportunities for international education, e-portfolios, honors theses, and advising all make sense.

Still, for each student in the crowded space of four years, only so much content can be absorbed, only so many disciplinary styles sampled. What endures is the zest for learning with joy, as the life of Randy Pausch '82 attests. That zest is Brown's great gift. Action steps emanating from the review should keep it burning.

William E. Cooper '73
Richmond, Va.
wcooper@richmond.edu