A Startup University to Train Public Servants: the US Public Service Academy

Google Tech Talks
August 20, 2008

ABSTRACT

Chris Myers Asch will speak about his efforts to build the U.S. Public Service Academy as the civilian counterpart to the military service academies a federally-funded college where students would get a free education in return for a commitment to serve for five years in the public sector, at the local, state, or national levels. Without lobbyists, a PR firm, or powerful connections, Asch has built a bipartisan coalition of senators, representatives, college presidents, military veterans, service organizations, and others in support of his idea. He will discuss the challenges and rewards of social entrepreneurship, as well as the promise and potential of the U.S. Public Service Academy.

Speaker: Chris Myers Asch
A native of Washington, D.C., Chris Myers Asch is a graduate of Duke University and the University of North Carolina, as well as an alumnus of Teach for America/AmeriCorps. He co-founded the non-profit Sunflower County Freedom Project in 1998, which he ran until he launched the U.S. Public Service Academy in 2006. He won the 2007 Eli Segal Award from AmeriCorps Alums and became a 2007 Echoing Green Fellow.

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[dilbertgeg]

How does this relate to Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of The Pentagon's New Map?

That's a scheme for extending the LEVIATHAN U.S. military attack force with a permanent global multinational "peacekeeping" force, w collaboration amongst the G-20 nations.

The Leviathan will invade and destroy as needed, with quickness, Shock and Awe. Next, millions of civilian peacekeepers will drop in to assist/enforce the march of CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION, which will solve every other problem via "connectivity".

[scharwenka1850]

Interesting topic. Thanks.

[hahawhat98]

I agree...this is a horrible idea but somehow I think they will go ahead with this anyway regardless of the US Population's disagreement with it...

[sressler89]

Good video Chris. I think you have a very well-rounded argument. Continue to think big and I look forward to helping out any way I can.

[PublicServiceAcademy]

Yes, Academy students would have a different experience than most college graduates, but they likely will be far LESS isolated than other college students. Requirements for service in the community, study abroad, service internships, etc. will insure that Academy students are actively engaged in the real world. They may not get to enjoy the all-night keg parties and other staples of college life, but they will have much more experience with the needs, experiences, and views of regular people.

[PublicServiceAcademy]

If the Public Service Academy were to graduate 50,000 students a year and were the only option for future public servants, then RITMaloney's point might be legitimate. The Academy, however, will only be one of many options that a prospective public servant might pursue.

Academy graduates may share similar values -- respect for the Constitution, dedication to the country, etc. -- but hardly similar views. Like other college grads, they will run the gamut politically.

[RITMaloney]

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Furthermore graduates of this Academy are likely to have very similar views. Thus the particular dogma that develops at this Academy will have a disproportionate influence on the administration of government.

Our leading Public Servants should be drawn from the vast general college educated population so they may best understand the needs, experiences, and views of the general population.

A democracy should not divide its citizenry into casts as if people were a race of ants.

[RITMaloney]

I once dreamed of this idea myself.

However, this is a bad idea for a democracy.

Such an Academy will take young minds and train them in a environment that SEPARATES them from the REST of the US population. The Public Servants who come out of this Academy will have much different experiences in their formative years than the rest of citizenry. This Academy will produce bureaucrats who are even more detached from the experiences of the general population than those we currently have.

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