Critique of Wagner and other's who claim to offer "CHANGE"

Hello fellow change seekers. Well, at least that's what drew me to NYU's Wagner School of Public Service - the idea of making change. Wagner's whole claim is "CHANGE." It is the biggest thing, bolded and framed on their website, next to the words, "THE WORLD."

But I have to ask Wagner to disclaim the "CHANGE," because it does little if anything to produce such a thing. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. I would argue that it's either insanity or dishonesty. Wagner is teaching much of what has already been taught and is currently taught and somehow expects change big enough, different enough to actually affect the world! Wagner teaches much of what is taught at other public service schools. Students learn policy, politics, statistical analysis, and management. But this is conventional standard information. I find it hard to see how conventional means will produce unconventional ends. Think about it, it's actually kind of crazy; Teach for America is going to change our entire education system by training its teachers in exactly the same way as many teaching colleges, United Way is going eliminate poverty by increasing access to food stamps, and Wagner is going to change our society by teaching statistics and management. Don't get me wrong, the education I received at Wagner has been valuable, and may in fact be the most beneficial institution I have ever attended. It has provided me with a more informed base from which to approach my quest for change, however, it has not prepared me specifically for change, nor do I believe that it prepares any of its students for change. It mostly prepares students for more senior positions in government and non-profits but does little if anything to prepare them to change those governmental and non-profit institutions which can in turn "Change the World."

If Wagner was really about change what would it look like? Maybe it would teach it's classes through the prism of progressive change. Maybe students would learn about finance, management, and policy through the revolutions that have been successful in producing progressive change. Maybe students would study the contemporary currents of social change and how marketing or management can help to further push and create such change. Rather than simply learning about public economic policy, maybe students could actually learn about how these economic assumptions have been used to impede change and how they can be used to advance future change. With the exception of a few classes, Wagner offers students an understanding of the public and nonprofit sectors, without any real guidance on how to change them.

It may be a great marketing tool. Concedingly, it is what attracted me. But it is also dishonest. So until Wagner commits itself to the pedagogy of real change, I ask that it disclaim the "CHANGE" it so prominently purports to offer. Or at least put change in small print somewhere near the bottom of it's publications in a manner commensurate with it's attention to it.