Acceptable modes of service

This post at The Happy Feminist, which addresses the difficulties of police work, reminds me of the protests we used to have in law school about gays in the military. The protests focused on the idea that it was wrong for the military to expect access. Almost no one talked about what access would mean for recruiting; the handful of interested students were going to make their appointments, on campus or off, but the vast majority seemed to think of the military as an occupation for other (lesser?) people. Police work, like the military, would be viewed as beneath most Ivy Leaguers. Service is something you do in Teach for America, or the Peace Corps, or (best yet) prestigious federal government work. But in both cases, the educated classes decry the ideological composition of the forces, even as they acknowledge their power. Why not break in and force change from the inside? Is it because police and military work is more blue collar?

More on this later, maybe.