Don’t get me wrong. Character matters regardless of occupation (public or private), but it especially matters when you are charged with managing public resources. Think of it this way: you get your pay stub from two weeks of hard labor and you recognize that upwards of 25-28% (even 33%+ if you’re lucky) is “missing.” That’s the money the federal government is using to run the country — yes, that’s just the federal government.

So, when I hear scandals running the gamut of our public experience from the mismanagement of FEMA in light of Hurricane Katrina to the peanut recall in light of the FDA and Texas Department of Agriculture shortcomings to the recent AIG scandal, I am especially grieved.

In a discussion I had recently with a friend that works for a market-based management charitable foundation, he questioned whether the Public Service Academy (another public institution) would truly be the answer to this vicious cycle of public mismanagement, to which I responded with an emphatic, “Yes!” Sure, there are many things that would curb public mismanagement, one being greater involvement by each one of us in holding our officials accountable, but the Public Service Academy would by far be the most effective next step that we can take to reclaiming our public institutions.

1) The Public Service Academy builds character. Like the military academies, the campus culture is actively shaped to form the character of each individual that is admitted. They are trained to see their future public sector career not as an obligation or something to advance their own personal ambitions but as a service and duty to their nation. This culture cannot be guaranteed through private scholarships for public sector programs at various universities/colleges — an idea that my friend said would be “infinitely more efficient,” to which I retorted, “Only in the short-term!”

2) The Public Service Academy provides practical experience in the form of internships and off-campus enrichment, which is required for all students. So not only are students being taught what it means to put the public good first in theory, but they have the opportunity (and obligation) to apply it in practice before they get into real positions of great impact.

To me, these are the two most important distinctions that having an academy would provide. If constant character development and the experience to know how to apply that character to the real world does not lead to less government mismanagement and corruption (i.e. a more efficient public sector), I frankly don’t know what will.