We've heard working for government has become cool again. Here's some anecdotal evidence.
Stephen Goldsmith -- former Republican mayor of Indianapolis, chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and a professor of government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University -- spoke on Tuesday at the Senior Executives Association's annual conference. Near the end of his keynote speech, he said that when he used to ask a class of students at the Kennedy school how many planned to go work for government, only about 20 percent raised their hands. Now when he asks how many plan to go work for President Obama, "about 98 percent of the class raises their hands."
The increase in interest can be attributed to the administration's emphasis on technology.
COMMENTS
Wow "Nicole" - Maybe the "well educated students" see it as an opportunity to get a paying job, something that even a bashed, well educated Harvard grad with a different perspective will have a difficult time finding. Don't make things more complex than they are, and certainly don't give such a group such lofty altruistic goals. They've just not been squatting between their Nikes long enough.
Robert Silverthorn 07/01/09 06:17 pm ET
Wow "Ron" - a lack of intellectual diversity at Harvard? Perhaps students see this as opportunity to work to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, an ideology this administration seems to embrace. Perhaps you should suggest viable solutions instead of bashing well educated students who bring a different perspective and approach to today's societal woes, as it is quite clear that the traditional line of thinking has been unsuccessful.....
Nicole 07/01/09 12:50 pm ET
There may be other interpretations of the students' vote:
A: They want to work for President Obama because he is a progressive leader who makes the public believe that change is coming even though that's a bit overstated.
B: The students really don't understand what it is like to work for the federal government. Once they find out, many will change their minds. Expect a lot of federal dropouts.
Robert M 07/01/09 10:19 am ET
It is a shame that "cool" has replaced effective in the lexicon. The president's many new programs and huge funding increases will certainly swell government massively, but without any measures of effectiveness. Is it cool to pass out money with no accountability? Apparently so, at Harvard. The show of hands there may have more to do with the lack of intellectual diversity than anything else.
Ron 07/01/09 08:31 am ET