Would you have joined an Americorps Program that was the equivalent of ROTC?  I think I probably would have.  Well there is a potential future piece of legislation that could do just that.

The Roosevelt Scholars Act would help fund education in Mission Critical Fields.  This would include engineering, information technology, foreign languages and public health.  In turn this would mean those graduates would have to commit 3-5 years of service to a federal agency.

Would this make a difference?  Logically it seems as though it would.  Not only would you be able to get skilled workers, with great educations into federal agencies, there would be an incentive because of guaranteed jobs for students coming out of school.  Jobs in areas such as foreign language, IT and engineering all have competitive pay in the government and this program could help get better talent into those programs from elite schools.

On the other hand, the government has several programs like this already.  Many that offer good jobs, with a quick rising scale in salary in exchange for years of service clauses.  I’d like to think that we could lure more talent to our agencies by simply increasing the pay in skilled fields.  Is the issue with the number of engineering graduates?  Or is it with the fact that they opt not to go into the private sector.

While it seems like more skilled employees for the government is a good thing, are these fields specific enough?  How do we know these fields are the most important?  Who determines these fields…and will they become simply politically influenced.

I see the value of a project like this, but wonder if something that targets students of specific socio-economic status for these scholarships would not only help our governemnt agencies but also promote education for those who could not already afford it or had never considered being able to go at all.

What are your thoughts?

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