Need for Proposed U.S. Public Service Academy Debated

Washington

George Washington couldn’t make it happen. Nor could Thomas Jefferson. But a self-described “nobody” named Chris Myers Asch is giving the idea of a national public-service university another shot.

As envisioned by Mr. Asch, a Teach For America veteran who’s leading the effort to finance and build what he’s calling the U.S. Public Service Academy , it would be patterned after the nation’s military academies, offering a free, four-year degree to students in exchange for five years of postgraduate work in the public sector.