Kimyen Soto
Assignment 2
June 12, 2012
Practical or Impossible?

Woodrow Wilson's ideas about administration to some may have seemed practical but to others it seemed impossible. I believe his ideas about administration were very practical and workable if people decided to try and look at it in his point of view. Some of the distinctions he believes in which wasn't very clearly stated by him. There are advantages and disadvantages in using such a dichotomy today as a way to advance that field of study as well. Wilson's idea of being able to take pieces of other countries policies and break them down to what the United States can use within their administration is a great way to see what has worked and what hasn't in other countries. By looking into the other countries administration structures and studying how the countries have dealt with those rules and policies, you can see what may benefit our country to the best of its abilities. There are so many different countries out there with different views of administration and to take a piece out of different countries and make our own out of them would definitely work in my opinion. Especially since the United States is the melting pot of the world, what better way to make the administration side have a piece of different parts of the world to make our dichotomy work for us. Some people see this country as a place where they have freedoms to do and say whatever they want to do. Most other countries have rules against those types of behaviors. But because this country is so different from most, it should make it easier to understand what Wilson was trying to portray in his studies of this field. In his essay he talks about how "we borrowed rice, but we do not eat it with chopsticks" Wilson 1886. to help people understand there are many things we use from different countries, but it doesn't mean we have to take everything the country we received it from may do with the certain item. Some people think we have to take everything or nothing, but the world doesn't work like that and we can take a piece of what we want if it works for us. One of the advantages I see with this type of plan is being the first to try out a new system or a certain way to run something. But at the same time, since we haven't had any experience on a certain administration routine, it could blow up in our face and end up making the people hate whoever may be in charge at that time. Or people could always end up thinking the idea was the best one yet to run a certain section of the government and it work for the rest of the time our country allows it to work. With every advantage, I believe there's always a disadvantage which may occur as well. It's all about taking chances and seeing what may come from the ideas you may have. But the best way to figure those things out would be to talk to other people to get their opinion on the different ideas and see how they would actually react to them before the public gets a hold of the idea and doesn't understand the document. All in all I believe Wilson's ideas are practical and workable. I believe the people who study this field understands as well what Wilson was trying to interpret to the public at the time he came out with his thoughts on the subject. With all the different advantages and disadvantages, I believe we would benefit from them.

References

Rosenbloom, David. "The Politics-Administration Dichotomy in U.S. Historical Context". http://sites.duke.edu/niou/files/2011/05/Rosenbloom-The-Politics-Administration-Dichotomy-in-U.S.-Historical-Context.pdf
Stillman II, Richard J. "Public Administration, Concepts and Cases" Ninth Edition. pg 6-16.
Wilson, Woodrow. November 1, 1886. "The Study of Administration" An Essay http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=465