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Political Science and Federal Employment*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Frederick M. Davenport ,
Lewis B. Sims ,
Leonard D. White ,
G. Lyle Belsley  and
Frances R. Fussell
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Extract

Only since 1939 have political scientists, as such, had much chance to gain entrance into the permanent federal civil service. This opportunity came as the result of two well-timed phenomena: (1) the demand of a number of federal agencies for young men and women educated in certain branches of political science, and (2) the United States Civil Service Commission's announcement of the Junior Professional Assistant examination, which included an optional called “Junior Administrative Technician.” This combination of happy circumstances, however, did not solve all the problems of the young political scientist or clarify all the requirements for federal employment; so, at the 1939 meeting of the American Political Science Association a committee was appointed to study the question.

Type
Public Administration
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , April 1941 , pp. 304 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1941

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References

1 See White, Leonard D., Government Careers for College Graduates; An Experiment in the Selection of Federal Employees from Liberal Arts Colleges (Chicago: The Civil Service Assembly [Pamphlet No. 8, 21 pp.], June, 1937).Google Scholar

2 See Sims, Lewis B., “The Social Science Analyst Examinations,” in this Review, Vol. 33 (June, 1939), pp. 441–450.Google Scholar

3 Much depends on how the Civil Service Commission appraises the content of any college course, for the title alone is not relied upon for classification.

4 Whether this objection seems valid is answered at page 307, infra.

5 A partial answer to this objection is that it may not be desirable to try to recruit administrative analysts or technicians from all the colleges and universities. Some institutions may wish to specialize in public administration, and others may not. This is already true of forestry, architecture, journalism, dentistry, social-service work, and many other subjects. Furthermore, the Civil Service Commission insists that when it certifies a man as an administrative technician, it must be fairly sure that the man really knows administration.

6 Also, courses in political science were acceptable as partial qualification for the Junior Agricultural Economist optional.

7 On January 6, 1941—after this report was written—the 1941 announcement was made, the closing dates being January 20 and 23. For the Junior Administrative Technician optional the requirements read as follows:

“30 semester hours in public administration, political science, economics, history, or sociology, or in a combination of these subjects, provided that at least 12 hours must have been in any one or a combination of the following: principles of public administration; personnel administration (public or private); management and supervision (public or private); public finance; public budgetary administration; administrative or constitutional law; courses in the application of public administration principles to functional activities, e.g., public welfare administration, public health administration, and not to exceed 3 semester hours in statistics and/or accounting.” Then there was added, significantly: “The professional questions in the examination for Junior Administrative Technician will fall in the field of public administration.”

8 This is true especially in the case of social-service work, where the Civil Service Commission stipulates “at least 1 full year of study (undergraduate or postgraduate) in social service in an accredited school of social work….”

9 A start along this line has been made by a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ernest S. Griffith, a round table at the 1940 meeting of the American Political Science Association being held on the subject of “The Relation of Political Science to the Other Social Sciences.” Another committee, headed by Professor Joseph P. Harris, has studied the relation between federal officials and political scientists, and its report, in somewhat abridged form, will be found on pp. 333–343 below.