A personal reflection on changes in marine science education over the past sixty years

Abstract

Changes and needs in marine science (and natural science in general) training over the past six decades are discussed. Among these are: new technological advances; the loss of -ology courses; the loss of field courses and sense of place opportunities for students; the need for a more interdisciplinary approach to training natural science students; a need to better expose our students to threats to Earth’s biocultural diversity; a need to include more humanities in our student training, including addressing diminished readership and appreciation of the great books; the nature of creativity; the perils of the internet; and university emphasis on faculty overhead dollars and high-profile publications at the expense of student training and more creative research.