Grad Degrees Help Society

A report released last week by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)—an association of graduate schools in the United States and Canada aimed at advocating for and researching graduate education—contends that pursuing a higher degree serves the “public good.”

The project, “Graduate Education and the Public Good,” emphasizes that post-undergraduate education leads to positive benefits for society and not just personal gain for individuals.

Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) is a member of CGS.

“While there are a number of findings showing that people with more advanced degrees tend to be better citizens, teach their children more about public affairs, etc., what we wanted to do in this report was show the many ways that people with graduate degrees from U.S. universities have contributed to the public good,” said Stuart Heiser, spokesman for CGS.

Dean of GSAS Allan M. Brandt said he agreed with the content of the report.

“I have always been convinced that graduate education fundamentally serves the public good,” Brandt wrote in an e-mail. “This report draws attention to a core ideal in higher education; namely that graduate education serves the public good by creating new and more sophisticated knowledge, as well as the next generation of researchers, scholars, and teachers.”

But serving the greater good may not necessarily be on the minds of current graduate students.

“I don’t think it’s the reason most people go to grad school, but I suppose there are some public goods it has the effect of producing,” said Simon I. Rippon, a graduate student in philosophy.

But Deborah A. Popowski, a third-year student at Harvard Law School, said she hoped her degree will further the public good in some way.

“That’s why I went to law school. I do this not only because I’m interested, but because I believe that it can contribute to improving social justice,” she said.

Chemistry professor Adam E. Cohen, who has two Ph.D.s, said he also thought that attending graduate school can serve the greater good. “I think that doing research and teaching other people are ways of helping the society as a whole,” he said.

Last month, the Law School announced its new Public Service Initiative, which eliminates tuition for third-year law students, beginning with the Class of 2011, who commit to spending five years in either public-interest law or the public sector.