Mere Rhetoric?

IN recent years, the Kennedy School of Government has been sharply criticized for failing to live up to its original mission of preparing public servants. Despite the school's phenomenal growth in endowment, faculty and degree candidates during the 12-year tenure of outgoing Dean Graham T. Allison '62, many assail the school for failing to kindle that spirit of public service among its student body that it professes to be dedicated to.

During the last presidential campaign, in a rejection of the failed Dukakis campaign run on "competence," critics also attacked the school's technocratic over humanistic approach to government.

Last week, commenting on the criticisms repeatedly leveled at the Kennedy School, President Derek C. Bok in his annual report agreed that the school was turning out bureaucrats rather than public servants, and called for a change in teaching technique at the professional school.

IN his report, Bok revealed that only 44 percent of the 1985 Master in Public Policy graduates were currently pursuing careers in public service. Criticizing the curriculum for not encouraging more of the student body to work in the public sector, Bok wrote that in the face of a great need for first-rate public servants in our country, it was the school's responsibility to encourage its top students to embark on careers in government.

Agreeing with the charge that the school's policy analysis approach to politics was void of the humanism necessary for a public servant, he also called for a greater emphasis on ethics, values and governmental philosophy in the school's curriculum. "The principle challenge ahead will be to add those forms of education that will help government officials move beyond being mere bureaucrats and technicians to become the kinds of human beings to whom we would willingly entrust decisions that affect our lives," he wrote.

After a turbulent 12 years under Allison, who was often criticized for emphasizing fundraising and political image of the school over academic excellence, the new era the Kennedy School seems about to begin is much needed.

But the question is whether Bok's call for public service verges beyond rhetoric--is this just another report along the lines of last year's one on ethics, which was followed by little practical result? In light of such high-flown rhetoric which was left hung out to dry, we are left skeptical about the degree to which a philosophical endorsement of public service can actually constitute a pedagogical one.

Nonetheless, the president's recent appointment of Professor of Government Robert D. Putnam--a highly respected political scholar praised for his integrity--as the school's new dean, is a sign that Bok truly wants the Kennedy School, which many regard as his personal legacy, to rededicate itself to its original mission. Putnam has repeatedly said as dean he will be dedicated to "rekindling that spirit of public service." Let's hope the school under its new leadership will come to live up to its true mission.