Post 3.

Every intern position has its drawbacks and half way through the semester I discovered what mine was going to be. DATA ENTRY!! My manager approached me one day and said, "Lindsey, I think you're ready to learn how to use one of our primary data systems" and I thought, "Sounds interesting, when can we get started!" Little did I know that learning the system would automatically volunteer my services to anyone in the office who was behind on his/her data entry work. Soon, I was flooded with stacks of papers from different project managers that needed to be entered into the system. Although this aspect of the job was tedious and boring it is an important part of working in the public sector because it ensures that agencies and departments remain accountable to the public and that the public has access to all the information available to them. This raises an issue that I have with the public sector and education in general.

Upon entering the MPA program, I had very little knowledge or experience in politics, government organizations, or anything within the public sector really. I had no idea that ordinary citizens could access the millions of documents each of these departments and agencies possess on the thousands of cases they deal with each year. And although I consider myself a well-educated person I was completely ignorant of my right to all public information. Many of my classes discuss the lack of civic engagement and participation currently plaguing our society and I have to put part of the blame on our de-emphasis of our right to public information. More people would get involved if they felt the government was accessible to them and had experience utilizing some of these resources to gain knowledge about everyday things happening in their communities. Starting in primary school we should have kids looking into agency documents so they know they can always have an affect on their world.