Experience teaches

It has often been said that experience teaches. For many years now, the worlds of education and politics have turned to each other for talent to fill high-profile vacancies. This two-way street has enabled presidents to hire Cabinet secretaries from the world of academia and for former secretaries to return to the classroom as highly respected and even more valued members of faculty.

Former President George W. Bush tapped Condoleezza Rice from Stanford to be national security adviser in his first term and later secretary of State, while former President Clinton tapped Robert Reich from Harvard to be part of his economic transition team and his first Labor secretary.

{mosads}Reich said that time spent in academia and government proved invaluable.

“It’s possible to draw down on the intellectual capital we amass in each realm,” said Reich, who is now a member of the faculty at UC Berkeley.

“If you land in Washington and don’t have the depth and breath of research understanding you can get as an academic, you can’t hit the ground running in terms of data and a lot of trends, a lot of sources. It’s too difficult. You can’t spend months and months getting up to speed in a particular area of expertise even if you are surrounded by experts,” added Reich.

Larry Sabato, who directs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, agrees.

“It helps government to have sharp, intelligent, internal critics — preferably those who can also apply their analysis and put their models into practice. Reich and Rice are two excellent examples of academics who do this well.”

If government benefits from academia, students also stand to gain from taking classes with professors who have been in the trenches in Washington.

“Students can learn important things from the rigorous studies of scholars, but they can also learn important things from the experiences of practitioners. It’s frequently a good combination,” said Sabato.

Former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who was appointed to fill Joe Biden’s seat when he became vice president in 2009, has been teaching Duke University law students in Washington, D.C., since 1991, while also working as a senior staffer and adviser to Biden.

“I was really incredibly impressed how the teaching helped me for those two years,” said Kaufman of his brief stint in the Senate. “Most senators don’t have time to think about the big picture. Teaching makes you think big and think of ideas you haven’t thought about,” said Kaufman

He also said it’s important to keep things current.

“Most of my students weren’t alive when Ronald Reagan was president. Their frame of reference is different. You have to be mindful of that,” said Kaufman.

Former Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Bud Shuster spent almost three decades in the House of Representatives before his retirement in 2001. He now teaches a course in politics at St. Francis University in Loretto, north of Johnstown, Pa.

Each semester he puts his students, graduates and undergraduates through their paces. He first teaches them how to set up and run a political campaign, then how to set up a congressional office, select committee assignments and ultimately vote on the big issues.
He especially enjoys the debates between his students.

“Having the students debate the issues, that’s very interesting. They really get into it,” said Shuster.

Sabato said that while there is value in the first-hand experience of a veteran politician, that experience and the anecdotes shared are not enough on their own in the classroom environment.

“The anecdote should always enlighten a more general principle in the field. There has to be some kind of theoretical construct in a lecture for it to carry weight and be useful,” said Sabato.

Of course, not everyone sets out to teach. Gen. Stanley McChrystal found himself facing an uncertain future in August 2010 when he  stepped down as Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.
 
Looking back, McChrystal told The Hill, “Any time you take a hard turn in your life you have to think about who you want to be. … It was very important to me not to change who I am,” said McChrystal.

McChrystal hadn’t thought about teaching. But as often happens in life, when one door closes, another usually opens. An invitation from Jim Levinsohn, director of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at the Yale University, led to a new chapter in his life. Within a month of his resignation he was teaching a course on leadership to graduate and undergraduate students.

Before meeting his students, McChrystal wondered about their motives for taking the class, and confessed to being a little anxious about the new assignment.

“It was different. Clearly you want to do a good job. I had a certain level of anxiety. I wondered about the motives of the students taking the class. But that quickly dissipated,” said McChrystal. “They were very interested in leadership. We formed a good relationship. It was not uncomfortable.”

One lesson he imparted to his students from his 34 years in the military and his time in Afghanistan was the importance of one-on-one relationships and the value of what he called “retail leadership” in carrying out policy objectives.

“Execution of the policy is often as, or more, important than the policy itself. Well-intended policy is meaningless if executed poorly. Additionally, relationships typically determine our success or failure. Relationships are central. Good relationships can help shape policy,” said McChrystal.

His former colleague retired Gen. John Abizaid, who was CENTCOM commander during the war in Iraq and now teaches a course on terrorism at West Point, says it’s important to pass on what you know to the next generation “because the future of the country rests in the hands of the young people.”

“Students are very interested in understanding the dynamic of the civil-military relationship in a democracy,” said Abizaid.

One thing Abizaid impresses on all his students is that national power is composed of different things.

“You’re only part of the solution. You’re not the full part of the solution. There’s a diplomatic, political, military, informational and intelligence part of the solution,” said Abizaid.

Sabato has one last piece of advice for those thinking about teaching.

“Break free of your old role and enjoy the independence afforded in the classroom. Remember that education is a two-way street; you’ll be surprised by the fresh insights that young people can give you.”