FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 3 



chosen by students during their undergraduate 

 years deserve special examination. 



Highest Degree 



A major decision that a student should make 

 sometime during his upper class years is whether 

 to continue with graduate work. In the past 

 these choices were probably between research 

 or teaching and management or administration, 

 but the careers have not been as neatly divided, 

 nor are they likely to be in the future as more 

 Ph.D.s go into management and administration. 



Respondents holding baccalaureate and doc- 

 torate degrees differed primarily in their opin- 

 ions regarding the basic vs. applied sciences. A 

 higher proportion of those with a doctorate de- 

 gree than of those with a baccalaureate rated bi- 

 ology, mathematics, and foreign language as 

 their most useful subject. More would have ad- 

 ded advanced biology, mathematics, and geology. 

 More would improve the curriculum by giving 

 more attention to scientific methods and less to 

 specialization. A higher proportion of those with 

 only a baccalaureate rated fisheries-fishery bi- 

 ology, fishery management, wildlife science, and 

 biostatistics-population dynamics-computer sci- 

 ences as their most useful subject, and a higher 

 proportion would have added ecology, fisheries- 

 fishery biology, administration, English compo- 

 sition, and public speaking. They suggested 

 especially increased practice or experience and 

 addition of communication and administration 

 skills to the curriculum. The average opinions 

 of those with a master as their highest degree 

 were frequently intermediate between those with 

 a baccalaureate and those with a doctorate except 

 that a higher proportion of them listed advanced 

 biology, advanced chemistry, physics, and for- 

 estry as the least useful subject and would have 

 added economics and administration more often 

 than either of the other groups. A higher pro- 

 portion of them also suggested improving the 

 curriculum by adding environmental courses. 



Activity 



The members of PFB were asked in the ques- 

 tionnaire to indicate the proportion of time spent 



in research, management, teaching, administra- 

 tion, or other activities. Almost all divided their 

 time between two or more of these categories, 

 and it was decided to separate the opinions of 

 those who said they were devoting 40 9c or more 

 of their time to any one activity. These acti- 

 vities might be chosen by the student; therefore, 

 the professional opinions would be useful to him. 



The researchers valued quantitative methods 

 more highly than the others did. A larger pro- 

 portion of this group listed mathematics-calculus 

 and biostatistics-population dynamics as the 

 most valuable subject, and social sciences and 

 humanities-liberal arts as the least valuable. The 

 proportion of them that recommended increased 

 practice and experience in the curriculum was 

 also greater. 



The managers valued natural history and 

 communications. A larger proportion of them 

 rated ichthyology-systematics, ecology, fishery 

 management, and public speaking as the most 

 valuable subject. A smaller proportion of them 

 than of the other two groups rated mathematics- 

 calculus as the most valuable subject. A larger 

 proportion of them also ranked biology, advanced 

 chemistry, and physics as the least valuable 

 course, but add aquacultural sciences, and rec- 

 ommended that courses have greater relevance 

 to real life problems and that the curriculum in- 

 clude more communication skills. 



The administrators valued general biology and 

 wished they had taken more courses in the social 

 sciences and administration. A larger propor- 

 tion of them rated biology and invertebrate zool- 

 ogy-marine biology as the most valuable sub- 

 ject, wished they had taken more biology, social 

 sciences, and administration, and recommended 

 that the curriculum be improved by the addition 

 of administration courses. 



The teachers (although the sample was small) 

 tended to be extreme in their opinion of several 

 subjects. A larger proportion of them ranked 

 the basic sciences — zoology, ecology, advanced 

 zoology, chemistry, and oceanography-limnology 

 — as the most valuable subject and a smaller pro- 

 portion of them rated the applied biological sci- 

 ences, the social sciences, and public speaking 

 as the most valuable subject. Somewhat anom- 

 alously, a larger proportion of them recommend- 



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