Public Life Now Offers a Great Chance for Men With Broad College Training

The following article was written by Otis T. Wingo, Jr., Executive Secretary of the National Institute of Public Affairs, Washington, D. C.

Four years ago an editorial entitled "Politics Is Dirty" was the means whereby the Yale "Daily News" expressed what it considered to be the prevailing attitude towards public service held by the average college graduate or senior student in America at the time. It is significant that within the past ten days that same campus newspaper has given front page space to the announcement of the current competition for 30 graduate scholarship appointments to the Federal Government internship training program of the National Institute of Public Affairs at Washington. In the same issue, that eminent college daily editorialized on the immense value of the program and its appeal to college men of today.

It is no longer pertinent to dwell upon the necessity for trained men in public life. Dozens of experiences that each of us have every day not only confirm in our own minds such a necessity but also many times prove to be a source of embarrassment mingled with shame over the fact that we have been so long in coming to the obvious realization. Young college men who are interested in politics and government, particularly public administration, are today interested in two main problems: first, what definite opportunity is there for trained men in government service today and what possibilities are there for career advancement in the years to come; and second, how should the college man train himself for public administration.

College Training an Advantage

The answer to the question of the definite opportunity in government service for trained college graduates is found, in my mind at least, in the increasing number of requests from government personnel directors for such men. I do not base that upon assumption or hearsay, but upon my own actual experience in Washington over the past two years. It should be marked, however, that I referred to "trained college graduates" and not just to "college graduates.' I will explain that later on.

Career advancement for the trained young men is, I grant, not a definite promise in many government services at this time. The contrast of the situation but a few years ago to that obtaining today encourages these young men even more than the little publicized but grossly effective steps now being taken by the Civil Service Commission of the United States to give protection of permanent appointment to them. to some people there is an element of surprise in the statement that the past three years have given more impetus to the achievement of such career opportunities--as the administrative corps now being worked upon in Washington--than has any other period in America's modern time. This is again an observation made not upon assumption and not in ignorance of the so-called spoils system, but carefully presented as a result of direct observation.

Civil Service No Hindrance

As a matter of fact, whether or not such protective measures as the proposed administrative corps project involves are provided to those trained college graduates who enter America's public service, I stand squarely behind the belief that a brilliant opportunity for service and achievement lies ahead for the trained college graduate of 1936 who accepts the interesting opportunities today afforded by the public service. Regardless of the protection of Civil Service or other efforts to combat spoils system practices, such young men are in demand not only in government, but also in public organizations (such as the growing number of associations of government officials and the like) and private industry. Indeed, the future might very well reveal to us that the two-sided experience of a young man who has been trained in public service as well as in private activities may produce the best and most effective public servant, in the larger sense, for the American system of government.

Broad Background Necessary

Throughout this article, I have constantly referred to "trained college graduates." Those of us who are devoting all of our time and attention to the problem of training public servants of the highest standards for America's government and semi-public problems, are convinced more and more as time rolls on of the utter lack of wisdom in any effort to "train" for public service, as such, in undergraduate years at college. There are many reasons for this. In the first place, that man who devotes his attention to such "tool" subjects as personnel management, fire and police administration, etc., during undergraduate years must necessarily remove himself from the benefits of studies in a truly liberal arts course emphasizing the social sciences as such and not including undue concentration upon procedures, methodology, and the like. A broad backing in the various fields of the knowledge of mankind is required for the fully developed and fully trained public servant of future years.

When I have spoken, in this article, of a trained college graduate, I have had in mind those young men who devote their undergraduate years to such a broad fundamental preparation and then pursue one or the other, or a combination, of two courses. The one is graduate study at the university and the other is actual experience with a training emphasis. The combination is found in the internship method used, as far as the Federal Government at Washington is concerned, by the National Institute's training program. This internship training provides not only experience as a personal assistant to a leading governmental official holding a position of responsibility but also includes educational guidance by the staff of the Institute and individual tutoring by the Educational Director.

Commending Littauer School

With the development of the three-year post graduate course at Harvard University, those Harvard men who wish to "train" for public service have an enviable opportunity, and, to my mind, the best means of attaining their end. In addition, through the requirement of a years of graduate work, the University is opening the advantages of internship to its trainees. With such a program, I am confident, the Harvard graduates of future years will turn their efforts toward achievement in public life with splendid background and developed abilities.