School of Public Service Blog: First Full Day at the St. Albans School of Public Service

And . . . they're off! The first full day of SPS included a case study -- a series of vignettes examining the issue of whether it can ever be ethical to lie in public life in pursuit of a greater good -- that was designed to get the students into the case learning mode. The "case method" of teaching is familiar to graduate students in fields such as law, business, and public policy. A "teaching case" is written in narrative-style, and describes a specific situation or conflict (perhaps a complicated policy decision for a government official) with the goal of, as Harvard's Kennedy School of Government states, "put[ting] students in the shoes of real-life decision-makers in order to prepare them for their own lives of decision-making." Instructors act as facilitators of discussions with an eye toward helping the students identify the problem, analyze the causes, and formulate solutions. After the first case study, SPS '14 was introduced to the group project.

Throughout the session, the students will be working outside of class on a group project focusing on political advocacy. SPS '14 has been divided into six smaller groups, and each has been assigned a broad policy area addressing issues having to do with, respectively, energy; immigration; firearms ownership; social security; health care; and same-sex marriage. The groups have been asked to form a Political Action Committee (PAC); draft a piece of legislation within their policy area; secure "Congressional" sponsors (really the SPS faculty and staff) for their bills; draft a press release publicizing their views; hold a press conference fielding question from the skeptical press (their classmates); and, finally, take part in a full legislative debate on the bills which will take place on the last day of the session.

After a morning of hard work, it was back to the classroom for a briefing on the mock Supreme Court argument later this week (more to come on that this Thursday). Then it was time to go out and enjoy the glorious weather (note: this was said non-sarcastically; it really was gorgeous out) by taking part in The Amazing Race, Cathedral Close Edition! Teams of six scoured the campus for clues, with Race tasks including finding and recreating a statue of a child in a handstand (see photos below) and finding the St. Albans bulldog mascot who "guards" the entrance to the Lower School.