WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

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David Schultz Graduate School and Work: Round Two I left that job to return to complete my PhD at the University of Minnesota, again on a full scholarship. I wanted the PhD to teach and to prove to myself I could do it. Having worked in real politics and government, I felt they had corrupted me. Yes, I cared about theory; but real issues of governance were of interest to me. I switched from political theory to public law in search of faculty who shared my interests and perspective, but never succeeded in finding them. I was an older graduate student with real government experience who really did not fit in. Most students in the program came from parents with college or professional degrees. When we discussed class struggle in our courses, they referred to the books we read; I drew on the life I had lived, including stories of my family and friends, and of being a community organizer. Job hunting was difficult. I did not have the support of an advisor or mentor who worked hard to help me find a job. Because of my perspective on politics and refusal to toe the party line at my school, I was deemed as someone who would never amount to much of a scholar (I know that from sneaking a peek at a file of mine at the school). I found that without support from a mentor or patron, job hunting was difficult. I also learned that because all my degrees were from public universities and not Ivy League schools, some schools would never hire me (in fact, I was told that several times by search committees who said their deans want to see Ivy League credentials next to candidate names). I rarely made it past the first round of applications because I did not fit the “profile” (I was older and had real work experience). When I did, I always lost out to those with private school degrees and to individuals who I later learned had their mentors call friends of theirs at the school where they were hired. In interviews, I was always told I did an amazing job in teaching or presenting, well beyond what they expected. But to little avail; they told me their administrators really wanted someone with Ivy League credentials or a different “profile.” Maybe what I encountered was the exception to the rule, and perhaps many other colleges would have looked at me differently. Yet the stories from the other contributors to this symposium cast doubt on how unusual my experience was. Being underrated was always something that people did with me, and I suspect with others from a blue-collar background. In part it was because I was not as polished as others or did not believe in playing games, networking, or sucking up. My parents told me I would have to do it on my own, and I did. At conferences, I served on panels with individuals holding degrees from Ivy League schools who found jobs at other Ivy League schools. Many were at least secondgeneration faculty or college, and often it appeared to me they were getting their jobs via connections. I wondered how they got where they did, especially when I remembered someone had to graduate last from one of these prestigious schools. I could go on, but the short version is that I eventually secured teaching jobs in a series of small private colleges. In between, I got a law degree and fulfilled a 72 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Blue-Collar Teaching lifelong dream of a master’s degree in astronomy. Overall, I have seven degrees and have authored or edited more than 25 books and 70+ articles. I have been on the editorial board of several journals, including editor in chief of JPAE; run a doctoral program; served as a government administrator; and have been a twotime Fulbright Scholar. I have argued cases before the Minnesota Supreme Court and briefs before the United States Supreme Court. On several occasions, I have been sent abroad by the State Department or given other assignments to talk about American politics, and I probably spend more time in the news talking to reporters about government and public affairs than perhaps any scholar I know. LESSONS FROM MY LIFE What have my life experiences taught me? I believe in the dignity of hard work and merit, but remain forever frustrated because they are not enough. I share the quintessential classical liberal value that it is not whom you know or your station in life, but merit and effort that should determine success. I look around and see this is often not true. From my perspective as an outsider, I see too often the privilege of family and connections that make differences. Moreover, I remain torn by the concept of “merit” itself. Having read and taught classes on class and diversity, including affirmative action, I know the debates surrounding how to define and recognize merit. Merit is often defined by status—being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple (to paraphrase Texas Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower’s criticism of President George Bush in a 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention)—and status seems to count for more than the person born poor who hits the double to reach second base. There is nothing more than arrogance to this concept of merit. Merit does need to capture excellence, but it also needs to reflect real effort and accomplishments in life. I believe in the dignity of public service and the idea that government can make a difference. Unlike some who have become successful, I have not forgotten my roots. Most of us are just a few lost paychecks away from being poor, closer to them than we are to the rich many seek to identify with. I am the product of public servants. I was lucky to have received scholarships to pay my entire education. These scholarships rewarded effort and smarts. Sadly, my generation of baby boomers cut the rungs off the ladder of help once they climbed up. I am grateful for all the public support I received and feel an obligation to return something to society by the frequent service I perform to my community. My parents said they worked hard so I would not have to. I cannot do that. I feel an obligation to continue to work hard. I do not toil manually as they did, but I still work 70 or more hours per week. The work most academics do is not the work of my father. He did real work. I believe in the dignity of work and effort, and that if you put in the effort, you deserve to be rewarded for it. Conversely, if your “work” means connections—it resides simply in whom Journal of Public Affairs Education 73
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JPAE VOLUME 18 NUMBER 1 JOURNAL OF
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Journal of Public Affairs Education
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FROM THE EDITOR In the symposium in
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NASPAA Presidential Address Annual
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Leading by Example: Modeling Global
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FROM THE GUEST EDITOR FROM THE GUES
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FROM THE GUEST EDITOR A SYMPOSIUM I
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on other fronts, certainly it can h
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Picasso, P. (1937). Guernica. Pictu
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A View from the 50th Street Gate on
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Reflections of a Working-Class Acad
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Page 35 and 36: Class Rooms Kenneth Oldfield Univer
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Page 47 and 48: ook (Oldfield & Johnson, 2009). The
Page 49 and 50: Didactic Changes Class Rooms Pedago
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Page 53 and 54: hooks, b. (2000). Where we stand: C
Page 55 and 56: Shaw, G. B. (1928). The intelligent
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Page 91 and 92: Oldfield, K. (2010). Socioeconomic
Page 93 and 94: Moving Forward by Looking Back Gary
Page 95 and 96: Moving Forward My father married my
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Page 111 and 112: REFERENCES Ashwander v. Tennessee V
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Figure 2. Expanded Model of Researc
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics o
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Figure 3. Expanded Model of Researc
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics L
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics o
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Felbinger, C. L., Holzer, M., & Whi
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Snee, R. D. (1993). What’s missin
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Are They Connected? Exploring Acade
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Exploring Academic and Social Netwo
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Figure 2. Career Advice Network Fig
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Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of
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network density, and network recipr
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Figure 5. Academic, Career Advice,
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Open Access Digital Repository: Sha
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Sharing Student Research with the W
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Table 1. Downloads of Papers at Sel
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Table 2. Top 10 Most Downloaded App
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Analysts also determined the number
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Topical categories. As shown in Tab
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negative impact on ARP downloads (
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Knowledge and Skills for Policy Mak
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Stories from Local Public Managers
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and writing the proposal for the co
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Another echoes: Stories from Local
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I think communication is one of the
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Creating Quality Online Course Desi
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it was achieved. The assessment of
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Fulbright Program for Foreign Stude
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Review of Moral Controversies in Am
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application of those foundations to
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Journal of Public Affairs Education
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Information for Contributors The Jo
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