Conference Papers

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In this paper we will link up the idea of fun, the common currency among college students today, with the practice of public administration which seems to have the reputation for anything but fun. The linking of the common ideas of public virtue with the possibilities of the collective good has a long and honorable tradition. If we go back to Socrates we see his questioning of poets, philosophers and rhetoricians on the common ideas of public virtue and all to provide for the education of the young who surrounded him. When accused of corrupting the young, Socrates denied the corruption charge, but stated emphatically that his accusers had understood the young were his audience. To teach the young is to influence the future. 

This paper is part of a long tradition to get the young to understand the common ideas of public virtue, to get them to examine their ideas and see whether they are satisfied with them, and ultimately decide whether their virtues will lead them to the good life. In teaching exercise described in this this paper we questioned the young directly- as did Socrates question Glaucon and Adeimantus in the Republic- about their ideas of virtue. Socrates surveys the culturally acceptable concepts of the time like truth, justice and virtue to ask whether these common ideas make any sense for living well. He did this not simply to cause confusion but to point out the genuine problems in reconciling public concepts with the idea of the good life, and force the young to rethink their strident but inchoate ideas about virtue. 

Here we will examine the views of students who share excitement for the common concept of fun, their idea of virtue, and see if it has any relationship to the knowledge and practice of public administration. As well as having links to the Socratic tradition, Alan Bloom in The Closing of the American Mind (by no means is it an accident that he was an admirer of Socrates) finds that students he taught prior to publishing his book in 1987, brought to the university the virtues of being "nice" and being "open." He finds some utility in these ideas, for example, that students are malleable and agreeable to teach, but that these ideas must be modified or overcome for them to ever think seriously about public virtue. Our exercise is similar to Bloom's and Socrates. In addition, as does Bloom, we will try to build upon the student's ideas about fun and try to find a meaningful core in these ideas. Just as Bloom appreciated the student's virtues of being nice and being open, we will explore the utilities of fun. 

Frederic D. Homer Augies@uwyo.edu
University of Wyoming
 
Rodney A. Wambeam
University of Nebraska

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Teaching Politics is published by William J. Ball (ball@tcnj.edu)