🗄FMS 6: What are you going to do with that? Run for office?

Political Science. It’s way more than we think.

What do you think of when you hear “Political Science”? Do you lean more toward the politics or the science part of it? This week, Melissa Bates taught me how interwoven Poli-Sci is with my Bachelor’s degree (I had no idea). Get your gears oiled up for turning and learning as we discover the intricacies of Politcal Science.

When I decided to go to college, I was in my mid-30s, married with three children. Maybe that’s why all of my administrative jobs were in colleges in the South. Talking with my spouse and parents, I had landed on the decision to major in Political Science with the hopes of one day becoming a college professor.

The initial reaction from my family was, “What the hell are you going to do with a Poli-Sci degree? Run for office?” This is a familiar and popular belief folks have – only people interested in public service major in political science. This is so not true. If you are someone considering your education options or just curious about “Why Poli-Sci?”, I have the answers for you.

Contrary to popular belief, political science is not concerned with partisan politics, but rather the schools of thought that have traditionally informed partisan beliefs and the institutions that reinforce them (i.e., Liberalism, Conservatism, Communism, etc.). Yes, we learn about governance, policy-making, and the framework of western democracy and foreign relations – these are the practical topics that poli-sci covers. The prevailing questions center around power, justice, and fairness.

Years ago, when I was considering my academic direction, I read that political science is considered a “niche” major – meaning it’s not a popular major, nor do the majority of students end up with an undergraduate degree in this major. According to College Factual, a collegiate think tank that monitors graduation rates, political science is the 14th most popular major out of 384 top ranked majors in the United States.

Furthermore, political science is in the top 10 for completion rates nationally. This shouldn’t be surprising if you know that much like your “basic” majors (i.e., business, education, general studies, etc.) political science has a multitude of sub-disciplines and is a gateway to other majors and occupations such as sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and public administration, just to name a few.

What these disciplines all have in common is the skill set students acquire in these disciplines that are transferrable and highly desirable by employers. Things like analytical reading, research and analysis, public speaking, rhetoric and persuasion, and professional writing.  

So I know you are chomping at the bit wondering what my concentration was and my current occupation as a post-poli-sci major. Well I’ll tell you it isn’t public office, though I have been approached on several occasions to throw my hat in. No thank you.

I ended up gravitating toward the more theoretical/research side of this social science with a strong moral and political philosophical bent (I minored in philosophy). I was studying to become a political theorist that was interested in the moral and political implications of constitutional law – or as we call it in academia – jurisprudence – how and under what principles do judges make decisions. Fascinating, right?

My master’s thesis focused on challenging predominant conceptions in jurisprudence, such as the principle of impartiality, as an unattainable goal as society becomes more diverse. In a nutshell, I made the argument of “Equity over Equality” as new maxim in jurisprudential thought – fairness, not equality should be the goal. I won’t get into the technical language since I don’t want to bore you, but I will tell you my thesis, in terms of its substance, set me up for what I now do on the day to day.

I am currently support the chief administrator of the largest CCO (Coordinated Care Organization) in the state of Oregon. Our members are Medicaid recipients in the tri-county region (the greater Portland Metro area) and we coordinate benefits among the 5 major health systems in Oregon.

My job is to ensure the equitable distribution of resources among our population in terms of physical, behavioral, and dental health. Because we are funded strictly through taxpayer dollars, we are tasked with finding innovative ways to provide preventive services by determining what other social detriments contribute to the overall health of our population and invest dollars in those areas to increase the quality of lives of the members we serve.

This requires not only the gathering and interpretation of research data for decision-making, but a high level of diplomacy as well. The major stakeholders we have to convince all have their own agendas which at most times are in conflict with each other – so getting them to align under one initiative can be arduous (sound familiar?).

I give credit to my poli-sci upbringing for literally drilling in the skills necessary for me to persuade a group of competitors to partner up on important initiatives that improves peoples lives on a daily basis – where the return on investment isn’t measured in dollars but in the collective happiness and prosperity for all.

So there you have it, folks. I hope you enjoyed my musings and experience as a poli-sci major. I hope I was able to enlighten a few of you on some of the finer details of this discipline. For those of you that are still on the fence, trying to decide your collegiate future, or unsure if you want to learn more, I will leave you with this quote from Izey Victoria Odiase: “Always make decisions that prioritize your inner peace.”

Melissa’s song choice

Follow your curiosity

Robb Willer explores the forces that bring us together and divide us as humans. In his TEDtalk, he delves into moral values and how they can actually be used to bring us together. This will shed light on how to have better political conversations.

Encouraging deeper critical thinking is how we learn and grow. Brian Oshiro is a teacher evaluator and he is encouraging critical thinking with three questions to not only get our kids thinking deeper, but ourselves as well.

Political Science has valuable real world applications. Learning more and expanding your repertoire could be something you’re in the market for. Here are marketable skills and applications that come with an education in Political Science.

The position that Melissa holds benefits her community. There are ways to help Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) similar to what Melissa is doing. If you’d like to find a charity or a nonprofit organization in your area, you can start here.

It is inspiring that not only does what Melissa do for a living relate back to her degree, but it helps a large portion of the population in her area. She works to make a change. Being a part of change, even if it is a small part, is rewarding in itself.

Ultimately, something major I pulled away from this week’s FMS is that your ability to think critically is something highly sought after.

Flex your thinking muscles. It pays off.

Skyler