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news
Semester at Sea
misses the boat
By Greg Smith
On-line Forty-Niner
A semester-at-sea
trip planned by the Asian and Asian American studies department
was canceled earlier this summer after coordinators received
lackluster interest from students. The two-month trip was
planned in coordination with the California Maritime Academy
and involved students taking classes aboard the Academy's
training vessel the Golden Bear.
Twenty students
were needed to fill the program but only two signed up by
the May deadline.
According to John
Tsuchida, chairman of the Asian and Asian American studies
department, the main reason for lack of students was the $4,000
cost.
"My main concern
was the cost. The entire package could have cost $4,500 with
spending money," Tsuchida said. "Some students thought
it was too expensive and it had a very early deadline, May
1, when most students are thinking about finals."
Tsuchida also said
the Maritime Academy rules might have influenced students'
decisions not to take part in the trip.
"We had to
do this in conjunction with the Marine Academy and we had
to go along with their program and their restrictions,"
explained Tsuchida.
Students on board
the Golden Bear are not allowed to smoke or drink and there
is no Internet access on board. Students are also expected
to help with the up-keep of the ship.
The trip was scheduled
to make stops in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Sasebo, Japan
and Kona, Hawaii. While on board, students would take
two Chinese or Japanese language courses and two units of
maritime safety, which is required of everyone on the ship.
CSULB Study Abroad
coordinator Cecilia Fidora was disappointed that the program
was canceled especially after the hard work coordinators did
on advertising.
She said she felt
that 20 students might have been too many for a first-time
program and students may have thought the trip was too far.
But she also added that any new program like this would be
very hard to get going, citing a decline in enrollment in
other study abroad programs.
"What we have
found with our London semester is that numbers were starting
to dwindle in the 1980s," Fidora said.
To combat the dwindling
numbers, Fidora said, CSULB joined study abroad programs from
Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and San Diego State
to help build a larger pool of applicants.
"Overall,
the number of students who study abroad is very low,"
added Fidora.
Price ranges for
study-abroad programs vary greatly by country and are often
more expensive than the Asian and Asian American studies department's
trip.
"Studying
for a semester in Mexico or Great Britain can be very reasonable,
a semester in Tokyo is almost double the cost," Fidora
said.
A semester on the
original Semester at Sea, which takes students on a cruise
ship to many exotic ports, costs upwards of $14,000.
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