Elliot Spaulding, 23, an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University, agreed: "I'm more interested in how my ancestors used to live-I want to sleep in a shelter that I have made myself, in front of a fire that I have lit myself [using only] sticks." The kind of course Mr. Spaulding and Mr. Posner were taking (this reporter was the third student) does have very real dangers. Students have had serious accidents, and even died, while taking part in survival courses.