Unknown Unknowns and Public Affairs Education Author(s): David Schultz Source: Journal of Public Affairs Education , SUMMER 2016, Vol 22, No (SUMMER 2016), pp 319-320 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44114738 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Taylor & Francis, Ltd is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Public Affairs Education This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Wed, 07 Jul 2021 11:18:57 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Editorial Perspectives Unknown Unknowns and Public Affairs Education David Schultz Co-Editor Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld we would like, recalibrating decisions or choices was mocked when he declared in 2002, aboutas we go and as circumstances change and new possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, data become available Thus the concept of that "there are known knowns; there are things bounded rationality This concept also applies we know we know We also know there are to public affairs education known unknowns But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we dont know we dont As I noted in the last issue of JPAE> our articles know." Rumsfeld in fact spoke more truth than and symposia often reflect two staple themes he was given credit for His comments reflect the The first addresses accreditation standards of the real state of knowledge that most public admin- Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and istrators have when they make decisions or act Administration (NASPAA) and whether they are His comments also capture the reality of most comprehensive or inclusive enough to represent public affairs education programs all the skills or bodies of knowledge presumed necessary for the public affairs practitioner The Herbert Simon famously described the world of second theme argues that public affairs educabounded rationality that defines decision mak- tion underteaches or ignores a skill or body of ing Simon argued that many decision-making models assume perfect knowledge In having to knowledge that deserves more emphasis make policy or other choices, models assume This issue of JPAE addresses the role of techperfect knowledge about all options, costs, and nology in traditional and online courses and how benefits, suggesting that the future is infinitely it affects learning and instructor preparation foreseeable and that there are no costs associated The articles in the symposium, as introduced with making decisions Yet Simon argued, by Jodi R Sandfort, are engaging and offer much instead, that we operate and act with limited to learn from There is also much to learn from knowledge about options and the future and that there are costs associated with making choices Ronald Coase also pointed to decision costs, and Charles Lindblom argued that because even the goals of decisions are often the other articles in this issue Ralph Gigliotti examines how online graduate programs relate to schools' seeking to impart or brand an insti- tutional identity Erna Gelles confronts the challenges of integrating nonprofit training inunclear, the reality of most decision making is a to Master of Public Administration programs form of muddling through And Christopher Rothermel s review of Man - ageńal Dilemmas: The Political Hierarchy of The point that Simon was making is that none Economy illuminates the books value in helping of us are omniscient when we act or make dec- administrators understand the economic con- isions We act with limited knowledge about text of organizational decision making the present and future and often have to simply make with what we have This is what But what Rumsfelds comments, as well as the Rumsfeld was referring to in 2002 Oftentimes concept of bounded rationality, imply is that we decide without having all the information public affairs education cannot teach all the JPAE 22(3), 319-320 Journal of Public Affairs Education This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Wed, 07 Jul 2021 11:18:57 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms D Schultz skills and bodies of knowledge needed to be a A good public affairs curriculum and set of public administrator today, let alone in a decade standards should understand this What is most or two There are many different jobs and roles needed are programs that emphasize analytical in public administration and not everyone thinking, judgment making, good oral and needs to know absolutely everything There are written communication skills, and the overall divisions of labor and fields of specialty that ability to confront new situations by developing determine what some people and not others adaptive strategies What have I just described? The classic liberal arts education need to know or be responsible for At the same time, the practice of public affairs We should not overworry or fret that our is also not static New problems arise People students not know everything That s okay I change Problems disappear or emerge Tech- assume they will learn on the job and evolve nology evolves Thirty years ago, no one knew with their organizations But we should be of GIS, Twitter, or big data No one could offer training public affairs students how to work in classes on these things because they did not exist a world of bounded rationality, where practiA decade ago, a simulation of implementing the tioners have the requisite skills to act in a world Affordable Care Act or Dodd-Frank was inof frequent unknown unknowns conceivable because neither law existed And before the 9/11 attacks, courses on homeland As always, I encourage you to contact me with security were inconceivable Yet even though suggestions for symposia, specific articles, or public administrators had not gone to school to even suggestions about how we might our study such events or laws, they managed to mudjob better as editors and about what you would dle through, learn, make do, and make good choices, even though they often faced unknown unknowns How did they that? Quite simply, they had the skills to adapt and learn like to see in JPAE in the future - ' David Schultz CO-EDITOR Any curriculum that educates only for the Journal of Public Affairs Education present is inherently out of date from the start HAMLINE UNIVERSITY A discussion of public affairs education that asks only what skills are now necessary to find a job will always be deficient We cannot simply offer everything and say that everything is important This denies the reality of specialization and organizational division of labor One can- not and should not be expected to know and everything Some are better at some skills, such as budgeting, compared to others, and the reality is that public affairs organizations hire either specialists or consultants or simply talk to others to fill in gaps in information dschultz@hamline.edu ABOUT THE CO-EDITOR David Schultz is professor of political science at Hamline University and professor at the Ham- line and University of Minnesota Schools of Law He is a three-time Fulbright Scholar and the author of more than 30 books and 100+ But it is also impossible to predict the future articles on various aspects of American politics, None of us know what we will really need to know election law, and the media and politics Schultz in 20 years hence Those who are accomplished in their fields, including those in public affairs, draw on work experiences, colleagues, and their own educational training to help them grow and is regularly interviewed and quoted on these subjects in the local, national, and international media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Economist, and adapt to changing conditions The secret to a National Public Radio His most recent book is successful career in public affairs is knowing how Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter to deal with the unknown unknowns (Lexington Books, 2015) 320 Journal of Public Affairs Education This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Wed, 07 Jul 2021 11:18:57 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms ... concept also applies we know we know We also know there are to public affairs education known unknowns But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we dont know we dont As I noted in the last...Editorial Perspectives Unknown Unknowns and Public Affairs Education David Schultz Co-Editor Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld... D Schultz skills and bodies of knowledge needed to be a A good public affairs curriculum and set of public administrator today, let alone in a decade standards should understand this What is