According to this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education, graduate schools of public policy and public affairs are reporting record numbers of applicants — up to 52% higher than last year. The combination of the economic downturn and President Obama’s call to service has lured thousands of young people into the public service orbit. Given this interest, some critics say, there no longer is any need for a Public Service Academy to raise the visibility and prestige of public service. Obama’s already made public service “cool” again, so why build the Academy?

Actually, this is the best time to build the Academy precisely because of the renewed interest in public service. We now have an historic opportunity to build a permanent institution that can capture the excitement and idealism of this age. The surge in interest is wonderful, but let’s not pretend for one minute that it will last forever. What will we have left after the honeymoon is over, after the economy recovers, and after Obama retires? Will we allow history to repeat itself, as when the idealism of the 1960s morphed into the cynicism and belittlement of the 1980s and 1990s? Or will we build a long-lasting institution that can produce top-quality young leaders for the public sector in good economic times as well as bad? We can’t waste this historic moment by patting ourselves on the back.