Monday, February 21, 2005
Draft
McCausland
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further consider what changes must be made to existing personnel management systems
and development programs to encourage the creation of an effective cadre of civilian
“national security” professionals for the policy process.
Clearly, there are additional
considerations with respect to current and growing requirements for those with technical
expertise, human resource management, finance/comptroller skills, etc. The development
of personnel with these talents for these agencies will not be the subject of this study.
Assumptions
Certain assumptions are key in this analysis.
First, some observers may take
exception with the distinction between the words “training” and “education”. They may
argue that they are synonymous, as we frequently use them interchangeably. They are not
the same, and there is a significant qualitative difference.
While training is more
concerned with teaching what to think and what the answers ought to be, education is all
about teaching how to think and what the questions ought to be. “Training is focused on
the development and performance of specific tasks or skills, and education is oriented
toward more generalized and abstract knowledge that may or may not be tied to specific
tasks or action.”
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Training is most frequently used when the goal is to prepare an
individual or an organization to execute specified tasks. It often includes repetition of
task, not unlike an athletic team learning to execute plays. Finally, training is normally
the preferred method of learning when the goal is to perform operations in which success,
failure, and completion can be clearly measured. Education focuses on how to think
about problems and how to deal with those things that may not lend themselves to
Convention