Idea to Retire: Old methods of policy education

[Commentary] Public policy and public affairs schools aim to train competent creators and implementers of government policy. While drawing on the principles that gird our economic and political systems to provide a well-rounded education, like law schools and business schools, policy schools provide professional training. They are quite distinct from graduate programs in political science or economics which aim to train the next generation of academics. As professional training programs, they add value by imparting both the skills which are relevant to current employers, and skills which we know will be relevant as organizations and societies evolve.

Information technology-based platforms provisioned by private providers such as Facebook, Google, Uber, and Lyft maintain information about millions of citizens and enable services such as transportation that were mediated in the past solely by the public sector. Surveillance for purposes of public safety via large-scale deployment of sensors also raises fundamental questions about information privacy. From technology-enabled global delivery of work to displacement and replacement of categories of work, some studies estimate that up to 47 percent of US employment might be at risk of computerization with an attendant rise in income inequality. These technology-induced changes will affect every policy domain. How should policy programs best prepare students to address societal challenges in this world that is being transformed by technology? We believe the answer lies in educating students to be “men and women of intelligent action."

[Ramayya Krishnan is the dean and Jon Nehlsen is senior director of external relations of the H. John Heinz III College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.]