704 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
from other fields of study, carrying their special problems to the sea. Because 
of its three dimensional nature, the ocean presents many complications even for 
the simplest problem, such as going back to exactly the same place on the bottom 
of the sea to take a second sample of mud or worms. As a result, more knowledge 
of oceanic processes is expected of the next generation by those whe have le=™ned 
some of these things the hard way. It has been facetiously said -- but perhaps 
not so facetiously after all -- that present degree requirements are such that 
many of the people who now hold degrees in oceanography would not now be eligible 
for admission to graduate schools in oceanography. This is perhaps more simply 
understood as a result of the increasing numbers of people who want to go on to 
graduate school, and the correspondingly larger number of those who can meet more 
stringent requirements - in other words, as in many other fields, the competition 
is getting keener. 
We often get requests from students in high school, and sometimes even from 
grade school children, about a future in oceanography, and how to study for it. 
Sometimes we get inquiries from their teachers as well, who seem to want to take 
to sea to get out of the classroom. Often these questions include inquiries about 
working hours and salaries. At the outset, it should be realized that oceanography 
-- like any other scientific endeavor, does not observe union hours and that the 
principal compensation is not the salary but the privilege of doing what you 
really want to do and incidentally getting paid for it. As the Greek poet Oppian 
said so long ago of the fisherman, the oceanographer should be daring, dauntless, 
willing to lose sleep, and must be keen of sight, wakeful and open eyed. "He 
must bear well the wintry weather and the thirsty season of Sirius -- he must be 
fond of labor and he must love the sea." 
Preparation for career in oceanography is not eas -- love of the sea is not 
quite enough. Oceanography is such a mingling of C_..\ iui disciplines and 
specialities that it is necessary for an oceanographer to know a little bit about 
almost everything in addition to knowing a fair amount about some particular field. 
In other words, there is really no "major" in oceanography. A student should 
be basically a physicist, biologist, geologist or whatever, interested in the 
processes of the sea as they pertain to his central field of study. As a result 
virtually all institutions that offer degrees in oceanorraphy require first of 
all a major in a particular field, and a broad background in related fields. For 
example, a biology major who desires to become an oceanographer must also have 
laboratory courses in chemistry and physics, and at least one course in geology. 
All oceanographers are expected to have mathematics through calculus. Since 
oceanography is one of the most international of the sciences, foreign languages 
are essential and are becoming increasingly more so. The two preferred ones for 
degree candidates are Russian and German. 
The beginner in college should not hope -- or expect -- to start right in 
with the ocean. Few institutions offer undergraduate majors in marine biology, 
and only one -- the University of Washington -- offers an undergraduate major in 
oceanography. But the requirements are so many that the course is really a five 
year one anyhow. 4n oceanographer should begin his preparation back in high 
school, learning his own language -- English in our case -- mathematics and the 
start of his foreign languages. The best college training for oceanography -- 
as for any other branch of science -- is to get into the toughest undergraduate 
school possible, and to work hard. Although oceanography does call for a diverse 
background training, the diversity can be overdone. There is the sad story of 
the young man who tried to do everything in his undergraduate years that was hoped 
