More big public service stories in the main stream media!! Today the New York Times did a feature story in the Education section about Harvard students and some of the personal conflicts they face whether to head into a high paying Wall Street career, or go into a public sector job upon graduation. Are they departing “to serve better thy country and thy kind” as the Dexter Gate on their campus says, or fulfilling their own individual needs and shirking a moral and ethical duty to share their knowledge with their communities? Check out this interactive slide show of many of the Class of 2008 speaking about this very concern.

Professor of Education, Howard Gardner has been holding seminars asking students to reflect on their Harvard experience and what would be the best way to put it to work in the real world. Harvard is well-known for being a fast-track to lucrative finance and consulting jobs on Wall Street. For some college graduates with loan repayment looming, it is the path many have taken. Professor Gardner is asking his students to consider a holistic approach to making these career decisions and encouraging them to give back in the form of a public service or non-profit sector job. Putting the prestigious and privileged Harvard education to work in service for the country and world seems like a much better investment. And isn’t it incumbent upon them to do so, these best and brightest?

Great American institutions of higher learning like Harvard are turning out intellectually curious, highly prepared and motivated graduates, but even their own John F. Kennedy School of Government focuses on graduate work and does not obligate the grads to participate in public sector work as a condition of their enrollment in the programs. Remember, the Academy would require graduates from the Bachelor’s program work for five years in a public sector job for the privilege of attending college at no cost to them.

Thanks to the YACers and Regional Coordinators flooding the comment board with mentions of the Academy!