Getting Them While They're Young

That's something the State Department's Hometown Diplomat program does in a smart way. One foreign service officer describes his experiences going back to his old high school here. This strikes me as something, if there is a reasonable, rational way to get it into the curriculum, a lot of departments should be doing. Having public servants visit high schools both puts a face on government, and puts someone with subject-matter expertise in the classroom. Having someone from the Agriculture Department talk about the Dust Bowl, or from the National Nuclear Security Administration talk about physics, for example, would all be totally intelligent, interesting, and rational ways for high schools and government agencies to benefit from each other.