Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
October 4, 2002
A couple of years ago, I wrote a column suggesting the University of Hawaii-Manoa offer a bachelor’s degree in marine biology. You would have thought I proposed they teach pigs to fly. For reasons beyond me, some people in our higher education system thought this was a foolish idea.
But the notion also had some supporters, and they have won the battle. Now, finally, after all these years, you can get a marine biology degree at our university’s flagship campus.
Hammering out the details of this new program took 19 months of open meetings and back-room politicking. Since this subject struck nerves, these gatherings were surely long and difficult. But the believers stuck it out, and we taxpayers and public school attendees should thank them for it. This degree is pertinent, popular and long overdue.
Admission begins this fall. You can check the requirements for it on the Web site www.biology.hawaii.edu under Degree Programs.
My own degree from UH-Manoa in 1985 was in biology with a marine biology track, and a certificate from the Marine Option Program (MOP).
That combination has served me well, but years ago, when I first enrolled and discovered Manoa offered no marine biology degree, I was disappointed enough to consider going somewhere else. I’m glad I didn’t, but still, I occasionally have a twinge of regret that my degree does not bear those two magic words.
No one besides my mother has ever asked to see my diploma, but its wording still bugs me. Why? It’s about realizing a dream. When you spend your childhood fantasizing about becoming a marine biologist and then do it, you want your school to mention it.
The marine dream is widespread. A reader who grew up in Jackson, Miss., described the fervor that infected many of us as kids. He writes, “For a couple of years, ‘Sea Hunt’ was all I could think about. In 1957 the show came on at 8 p.m., the time my parents sent me to bed. That was so painful, I wrote to the TV station asking them to move it to 7 p.m. Instead, the station manager offered to let me come down on Saturdays and watch it on their monitor.
“When my mom saw his letter, she was moved and let me stay up an extra 30 minutes once a week. Two weeks later, the station changed the show to 7 p.m., and I was in heaven.
“Nothing has inspired me to do anything like that again.”
Few subjects arouse such passion in kids as marine biology. I see this fervor in Hawaii’s children firsthand, because teachers sometimes invite me to talk to their classes. My most recent visit was typical. It went like this:
A group of well-behaved second-graders filed into the school library, sat down and politely listened to my introduction. Then the first slide dropped, and excitement in the room erupted like a volcano. The children jumped up and down, called out animals’ names and told me stories about their own encounters.
The teachers did their best to calm the kids, fearing I would get annoyed. They need not have worried. I couldn’t be happier seeing and sharing children’s bubbling enthusiasm for marine animals.
Now when I advise eager kids (or adults) to stay in Hawaii and study marine biology at Manoa, a path I have always advocated, I’m happy to know their diplomas can read what mine never could: “Bachelor of Science, Marine Biology.”