Following up on my latest post about how different today's college students are from those just 4 short years ago, there's this from yesterday's WaPo (via Tapped):
Roughly a third of young Americans would give a "great deal of consideration" to entering government service if asked by their parents, a teacher or -- surprisingly -- the next president of the United States, according to a Gallup survey.
But, for the most part, no one is urging them to think about public service. Sixty percent of the survey respondents under age 30 said they had never been asked to consider working for Uncle Sam.But 33 percent of them said they would give serious consideration if it came from their parents, 27 percent if it came from a teacher and 29 percent if it came from "the newly elected president."
The survey was conducted on behalf of the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government and is scheduled for release tomorrow as part of Public Service Recognition Week, a tribute to the contributions that public employees make to the nation.
The data suggest that 18-to-29-year-olds, known as millennials, are "more responsive to interactive communication and personal attention than people have realized," said Patricia McGinnis, president and chief executive of the council.
The survey, she said, also shows "the potential for the new president and administration, especially as we have the retirement wave getting under way, to ask people, not just millennials but older people as well, to serve. There's a sense that many would respond and step up, as they did when John F. Kennedy asked."
Over the next five years, about a third of the federal government's full-time employees will leave, mostly baby boomers who are retiring. A 2006 Gallup survey found that many young Americans do not see the government as innovative and creative, reinforcing long-standing concerns that federal agencies may find it difficult to compete with the private sector in hiring talented young people.
This is what separates Obama's campaign from everyone else. He's already asked young adults to step up and join the movement, and they are more than doing their part. Should Obama take the nomination and win in the Fall, they will have played a key part in his success. Its a deliberate strategy on Obama's part, one that he will no doubt translate into a call to action should he be privileged enough to deliver his first Inaugural Address.
The realignment is there if we want it. All that it will take is lots of hard work and dedication. Its within your reach, America, if you want it badly enough.
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