Like most things, there’s no way to unpack all my feelings about grad school into something coherent or short enough for a simple blog post. Do I like it? Yes I do. There’s nothing quite like devoting your days to learning from a variety of sources, in all kids of ways. Once your brain gets back into accademic mode its as though it wont stop absorbing information and making connections about the world you live in. Last night I went to hear Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air on NPR, interview Jon Stewart at the 92 St. Y. What struck me most about the event (aside from how short Terry Gross is - something like 4’11” or 5’ flat!) is how smart Jon Stewart is. I know its easy to say that watching the Daily Show because he makes good points, is funny, and we like him. But last night, when he wasn’t cracking jokes and even got a bit more serious, there’s a vast intelligence to the way he speaks. I love interviews and hearing people talk. Thats why I love Terry Gross. She’s one of the better interviewers out there, able to get people to open up, share their insights, but she’s also very adept at using the right words in her questions. Jon Steward just happened to be very adept at using the right words to answer her. Plus, he made repeated references to being young and moving to New York, disliking modern news and the way it drives public opinion and politics while ignoring really important world issues, and he also proved his love for UP by imitating Dug. All that to say that their interview had my neurons firing and that might not have happened so easily had I not been primed by weeks of “Aha!” moments in my classes.
So what is grad school? Well, just like undergrad, but with double the reading, more focused class conversations, and an air of seriousness about it. I think thats due to the specialization of the programs - that is, the people who are there want to be there and the professors want to teach. That shared goal of broadening our knowledge about a particular field or subject is the complete other side of the coin from “required courses for graduation” scheduled at 7am that you lug yourself out of bed and go to without showering.
On the other hand the same question that came up the first time you opened a math book continues to appear: “when will I ever need to know this?!” That’s usually how I feel coming out of budgeting and statistics. That or, “isnt this why public organizations hire people who have econ and finance degrees?” There are some other dark spots such as a few of the greusome books we’re required to read and answer questions over:
Q: What does this book say about public affairs and the practices of public administration?
A: Central to the notion of public affairs is people existing in a civil society. This is achieved through various agencies, their management, and their policies. Ideally (though not necessarily) the goal of these agencies is to ensure a civil society, and to be generally benevolent, acting in a manner so as to improve life. Certainly the original idea behind what would become eugenics – studying humanity, looking for its better qualities, and hoping to discover the best conditions to pass on those qualities to future generations - seems like a noble endeavor. As it continued many intelligent people and their noble guided agencies became involved. However, at some point there was a clear disconnect that occurred between these powerful administrators, intelligent scientists, and wealthy philanthropists.
The scientific aspects of the eugenic research were at the heart of this disconnect. As people like Davenport and Laughlin began amassing data and statistics and discovering more and more differences in human heredity, they grew distant from their subjects. In some way the eugenicists’ desire to unlock the keys of good and bad genetics made them lose sight of their own humanity and ability to empathize with their fellow man. Their data regarded people as numbers rather than living, breathing organisms with hopes and feelings. When a person, poor, criminal, mentally disabled or not, became merely a number or was labeled with the popular catch-all term of “feebleminded” their humanity was lost.
It is easy to look back at the eugenics movement and call out all its misguided efforts. However, it is much harder for modern public administrators to step back from their own line of work and objectively critique themselves as to whether they’re doing more good than bad. But if anything, the eugenics movement is just another example of why accountability and self-evaluation is essential to those in the arena of public administration. Perhaps it takes consciously reminding one’s self that at the heart of public administration is and should always be the public.
Blah. There’s also the graphs we have to create using statistical data, then discuss using fancy words.
Double blah. Notice I didnt tell you any of those fancy words? Yeah.
Overall, grad school is good and two of my courses - Intro to Public Affairs and Non-Profit Management - are taught by some of the best professors I’ve ever had (the kind where you hope to take a course of their’s every semester). I’ve also met some more cool kids who happen to be very smart and able to help me when I can’t work an Excel spreadsheet. And, if nothing else, the grad school process has thrown my reading into high gear, so much so that as soon as I finished that awful book shown and talked about above, I went straight to a bookstore and found something much more satisfying. But more on that stream of thought later. Hope you’re having a good week. See you soon.
