COURTESY OF IOLANI SCHOOL
Biology textbook writer Neil Campbell, second from right, recently lectured at Iolani for a week as the school's Keables Chair holder for 2003. Standing with Campbell are Iolani Headmaster Val Iwashita, left, and his wife, Cynthia; biology teacher Susan Nishiura; and biology teacher Jack Kay.
At the dawn of the 21st century, America and the world have found themselves beset by questions of politics and security. Just as worrisome, however, are the questions of science. Visiting teacher makes
science come aliveBy Adam Maruyama
Iolani SchoolThe 2003 Keables Chair holder, Neil Campbell, helped the Iolani community deal with many of these questions.
The Keables Chair was established in honor of the late Harold Keables, a distinguished member of the school's English faculty. To commemorate Keables' excellence in teaching, the chair brings in one visiting teacher each year.
Former chair holders have included poet Li-Young Lee and the Oregon Shakespeare Company.
Iolani was honored to have Campbell, the writer of "Biology," the most-used college-level textbook in the subject, in residence for an entire week. Campbell lectured not only to the biology classes, but also to classes in a wide range of subjects, from art to history.
For many students it was both the depth of Campbell's knowledge of biology and the breadth of his general knowledge that impressed them. In many cases -- a lecture to journalism students from Imua Iolani on publication and a lecture to an AP U.S. history class on Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" being prime examples -- Campbell demonstrated a tremendous affinity for synthesis of many different subject areas.
One of the most pertinent subject areas that Campbell covered in his many talks was bioethics, especially as related to cloning. I had the privilege of speaking with Campbell at length on this subject and its international implications.
For Campbell the question of cloning a viable human embryo was no question at all -- although cloning is feasible, "it's just not good biology," he said.
As for claims from sects like the Raelians that they had cloned a human being, Campbell said, "I'm almost positive that they haven't," adding with a chuckle, "and I don't think those are the kind of people we'd like cloning themselves."
The real debate in the United States, Campbell argues, is over stem-cell research. A clean human cloning bill, he said, would easily pass in Congress. Stem cells, however, are more controversial -- although they come from human embryos, they are essential to research and could cure many diseases, including Alzheimer's.
Campbell said that the problem with stem-cell research is that it is vastly misunderstood, especially in the political world. The embryos from which stem cells are drawn would never be implanted into a mother, he said -- hundreds of unused embryos from birth clinics sit in liquid nitrogen every year, unused.
I became more and more aware of Campbell's knowledge throughout our discussion as he remarked that a person's experiences can vastly change his or her perceptions of stem-cell research.
Nancy Reagan, he said, is a prime example -- someone who, in the Reagan years, would have been stem cells' staunchest opponent is now a supporter because of her husband's affliction with Alzheimer's.
Many of the questions presented by Campbell in his discussions have no easy answers. Campbell perhaps posed more questions than he answered, but also remarked that the term "liberal education" comes from the same root as "liberation."
It is perhaps, then, through questions rather than answers that true educators such as Campbell and the late Harold Keables truly liberate minds.
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