Talk:Peace Corps/Archive 1

Citation needed

I put a citation tag on the rape and theft claim, not because I doubt it's validity, but because any such serious accusations can't be made with a "it's not uncommon" claim with no citation. Note: The author must also prove not one theft or rape claim, but that it is not uncommon across the spectrum.

--Chris

Actually, the statement is extremely POV and must have a solid citation. I've removed it until the citation can be provided. --Alabamaboy 23:33, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

CIA connections?

The article refers to Max Millikan as a respected academic. Other articles available on the Internet, including one from Counterpunch, describe him as a highly-placed CIA officer in the department of "National Estimates," which sounds like classic analyst work. I don't know enough about this subject to comment, so I'm throwing the issue out for someone else to write about.

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here is one source which gives an idea of CIA connections-[1]Bharatveer 17:10, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

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The inaugural address seems very vague on the topic of the Corps - shall I take the "To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe..." and "To our sister republics south of our border..." paragraphs for it? Also, doesn't Shriver's entry in the table just pointlessly repeat what's been said in the main text?

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Consult the wiki article, which puts the three goals (directly from the act) up front. This is a perfectly clear statement of the Peace Corps mission, so I do not see where the impression of mystery comes in (besides simply ignoring the information which is out there for everyone). It is really grasping for straws to imply that some kind of involvement of some guy alleged to be CIA means the Peace Corps is somehow affiliated with CIA. It isn't - you aren't even allowed in if you have relatives in intelligence.

Why not imply that USAID or Red Cross are CIA fronts? I'm sure you can find that some people have been involved with Red Cross and also had some kind of tangential connection to intelligence, so why aren't you going on the Internet and telling everyone that Red Cross is a bunch of spies? Do you lack the courage of your convictions, or are you just partisan? 83.103.77.181 (talk) 05:37, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

One CIA agent working in the Peace Corps doesn't make it affiliated with the CIA, after all a CIA agent could use a enemy agency as a cover. Of course the question is what is a CIA agent? I doubt some internet articles claiming CIA involvement are not worthy of mention. Rds865 (talk) 05:24, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Volunteer image

I have images of volunteers in action, as well as a picture of trainees swearing in to become volunteers. I haven't added them to the article since they're all of people I worked with and trianed with in Cameroon while serving as a volunteer; my fear is that they would be viewed as vanity additions. What do y'all think? Is a big picture of my training group swearing in a relevant addition to the article? What about an image of a volunteer helping a bunch of kids with a project? For what it's worth, I'm not even visible in the swearing-in pic, though the "helping kids" picture is most definitely me. And these would be legitimate good-faith additions; vanity is not a motivation. Amcaja 01:42, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I think the pictures would be great! (as long as everyone in the pictures know their going to be very public)Banana04131 22:32, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

As a former PCV [who has managed to sneak two photos in the article already,] I say, "Go for it." You might consider adding some little detail to the text to tie them into, and don't worry about the Vanity Thing. If someone objects, you'll know. Carptrash 04:05, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

My swearing-in photo isn't very good, after all; I can't find a good scanner that will scan it with enough detail. Oh well. It'd be nice to have some sort of image of a volunteer doing his or her thing, though. The Peace Corps website offers some good images (PD, since it's the US Government), but I'd prefer something that wasn't from the organization itself. — Amcaja 15:41, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

I will see what I have - no swearing in shot, but some some swearing AT pictures and maybe even a being sworn at one. Carptrash 16:34, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Removed paragraph

I removed this paragraph:

Impoverished nations who's economic structures can not be improved by internal measures, due to severe lack of knowledge, manpower or capital often turns to the Peace Corps for help. Peace Corps build the essential foundations for survival for communities, by providing the tools, teachers and necessities to help communities survive and thrive.

It just sounds like government propaganda to me, plus it is not sourced. If it remains, it needs to be seriously tempered for NPOV, and we should probably add a paragraph about Peace Corps really being about winning hearts and minds more than about development work. — Amcaja 15:25, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

It's what the peace corps does. They build shelters, run schools, and provide means to cook in the middle of nowhere. They work with country that obviously cannot do it by themselves. Otherwise they wouldn't bother to be there. Some of the work they do. http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/103425 http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/1011755.html It's not about hearts and minds then it's about education, health, and economic development toward creating trade partnerships, and government stability in 3rd world countries. Something like books over bullets. Otherwise Aids, and other things probably will wipe these people out. How do you define essential? --Masssiveego 01:58, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Actually, you are mostly wrong about what Peace Corps does. Yes, PCVs build school and run them and so on but all of that is done with an eye toward teaching host country nationals how to do these things themselves. Hearts and minds is at the core of Peace Corps and everything else revolves around that. I agree that your edits to the article were extremely POV. Best, --Alabamaboy 02:45, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Actually, "hearts and minds" - for which I can only read propaganda - is by no means at the core of Peace Corps and what it does. The implication is manifestly POV and does not belong in the article either. The Peace Corps mission is not about propaganda. For what it IS about, see the three goals. This is public information, it is what we hear in training - we volunteers are not getting briefings or directives to the contrary. There are already perfectly capable government agencies, of which Peace Corps is wholly independent, to handle US propaganda missions; and they do so in a focused way rather than distributing people to a lot of politically unimportant backwaters, and they do not rely on generally-left volunteers who are only trained in language and culture and community development, and are quite liable to be honest or deprecating about their country.

Now, what Peace Corps DOES do is, as accurately reflected in goal #1, to provide skilled men and women to needed countries on request. This is not POV, it is a fact. Now, whether you like it or not and even if a given volunteer did nothing at site but drink, we are indeed employed to do a sort of development work; it is only that it is a different form of development work than driving around in a bradley or white SUV dispensing things or giving orders. Rather what we are supposed to do is come as an individual, live in the community, listen to people and help the community identify and resolve its own needs. (for a source on this, the PACA manual works well). - in other words, it is development at the community level, where "development" is defined by the community (as compared with USgov, UN etc.) 83.103.77.181 (talk) 05:37, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

The second goal sounds pretty "hearts and minds" to me. "To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served." The Peace Corps was created in an era when convincing third world countries of the wonders of United States capitalism was top priority. The primary motivation of volunteers like yourself is almost entirely benevolent, and the Peace Corps has probably helped plenty of people, but I would be reluctant to say that it exists in isolation from government agendas.Meviin (talk) 08:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Practical Information

This article needs alot more practical information regarding what exactly the experience of applying/volunteering is like, and how the organization functions today; in its current form all it really tells us is the organization's history. Also, does anyone know of other, similar non-government organizations that could be put in a "see also" section? I know there are religious ones, but I don't know what they're called. Snowboardpunk

You're right; I've thought that myself. A good place to start would be So You Want to Join the Peace Corps, a good book on the day-to-day of volunteer application and life. It is important to stick with published sources; I could write volumes about volunteer life based on my own observations, but that is , of course, original research. — Amcaja 18:31, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

"So You Want to Join the Peace Corps" is an interesting book, but even though it was only published in 2000, it's already outdated in many ways. However, I think it's possible to include a couple of sections on the application process and a basic summary of what 27 months as a volunteer are like, in purely factual terms, which you could source from the official website. By purely factual terms I mean giving general information about training, what sort of work a volunteer might do, etc., rather than talking about individual experiences or impressions. It might also be a good idea to include a section on the different programs PC currently runs, and a list of current PC countries. I'd be happy to write them myself, but since I haven't contributed many edits to Wikipedia I thought it would be better to run it by people here first. Calante 05:10, 16 March 2007 (UTC)Calante

Maurice (“Maury”) Albertson

I'm not sure of his role in founding the Peace Corps. From http://www.etown.org/awards.past.shtml:

Aired the week of 3/8/06

Maurice (“Maury”) Albertson, Ph.D, Village Earth: Maury is a civil engineer, and has traveled internationally as part of his work for nearly 60 years. He also is a co-founder of the Peace Corp, and networked extensively with the volunteers.

Founder: (noun) a person who founds or establishes [Origin: c.1330, from O.Fr. fondrer "submerge, fall to the bottom," from fond "bottom," from L. fundus "bottom, foundation"].

"In 1960-1961, Albertson was the director of the U.S. Congressional study on the Point 4 Youth Corps, which led to creation of the Peace Corps. Albertson and two colleagues, Pauline Birkey and Andrew Rice, co-authored the book, "New Frontiers for American Youth - Perspective on the Peace Corps," which set up the basic design for the Peace Corps."[2] It is a stretch to call Albertson the co-founder of the Peace Corps unless you also add that Henry Ruess, Hubert Humphrey, Brien McMahon, Richard L. Neuberger, Warren Wiggins, William Josephson, Harris Wofford, Bill Moyers, William Haddad, and others contributed to founding the Peace Corps. John F. Kennedy and Sargent Shriver also had something to do with the founding. Reservoirhill 03:10, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Early stumble

The entire episode is written as an american sees it.Therefore this paragraph needs to be rewritten to be made NPOV.Bharatveer 16:49, 8 April 2006 (UTC)Bharatveer 16:50, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Okay, go for it. — Amcaja 17:01, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

OKAY;; Modified the paragraph now. Bharatveer 18:29, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

I edited it a bit more. Your version was good, but it eliminated some information. It's important to never remove information from a Wikipedia article without a very good reason. I've gone ahead and left out the two Nigerian-American organizations that helped the Peace Corps in the "early stumble" situation, since you're probably right that mentioning them does slant things too much. — Amcaja 19:33, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

OK.But still the quotes you have used in the sentence makes it a POV ( In it, she described Nigeria as "squalor and absolutely primitive living conditions".) Do you have any source to show that those were the "EXACT" words used by her?? And again reference to the "hunger strike" started by americans is without sources.. Bharatveer 06:09, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

The whole aritlce is unfortunately without sources right now, so I don't see how these two bits being unsourced is POV. You'd be perfectly within your rights to slap an {{unsourced}} tag on it, though. — Amcaja 17:03, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Wel l here is an internet "source" for the infamous postcard that quotes it in its entirety. When I read the whole thing [opinion] it was not as bad as I expected it to be. Perhaps the whole text belongs here? Carptrash 05:57, 10 April 2006 (UTC) http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2000/0001/001pchist.html

/* Early stumble */unsourced, not verified tags added Bharatveer 17:34, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I fixed the templates for you. When you want a specific fact to be sourced or verified, you use {{citation needed}} as opposed to {{unsourced}} or {{unverified}}. Also, be careful about spacing or tabbing before comments on talk pages; it makes your comments appear in weird, hard-to-read boxes

 like this.

— Amcaja 21:34, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Crossroads Africa

I removed:

The Peace Corps was modelled after Crossroads Africa, founded by Rev. James Robinson, a graduate of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)

It may be true, but I'd like to see a source citation before we include it. — Amcaja 02:41, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

More than a history lesson

This article needs more than just a retelling of the Peace Corps' inception and history. There must be many visitors, like me who are interested in the possibility of serving in the Peace Corps and want more information about what it's like, etc. There's a lot of info on the official website but I look to wikipedia for (somewhat) more unbiased, varied responses. Topics such as if you don't agree with the US' foreign policy, is the Peace Corps still for you, what is the application process like (how long, what steps), even very basic info like two years is the typical term are unanswered or hidden in the caption of the picture w/ the postage stamp. As much as we're all interested in who all the past directors of the Peace Corps are, I think the other basic questions can be answered too (preferrably by past volunteers who are in the know)? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 171.64.89.92 (talk • contribs) .

You're right. The problem is finding sources that mention this stuff. I served for two years, but my personal recollections cannot be added to Wikipedia per our policy against "original research". However, books such as So You Want to Join the Peace Corps? would be good sources for expansion. By the way, feel free to email me if you would like to ask questions about doing PC. My email is accessible from my user page. -- Amcaja 16:22, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I notice that there is no mention of the biggest scandal to rock the Peace Corps, i.e. Deborah Gardner's murder in Tonga. Would someone be interested in writing this? Chris 16:04, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

It would be worth mentioning, yes. I'm not sure how much of a scandal it was at the time, though, since they covered it up, didn't they? — Amcaja 22:25, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Not that it proves anything, but i was in the Peace Corps when that event happend [half a world away] and i don't remember hearing anthing about it. Anyone attempting to write it up probably should read American Taboo, a recent book about the murder. Carptrash 22:47, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Carptrash: I haven't gotten to read American Taboo yet, though I have heard of it. There was a documentary produced on it relatively recently, I have to say it was pro-Peace Corps but quite anti-Peace Corps administration at the time (the Country Director, in particular, received a lot of criticism). Chris 20:32, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Amcaja: All evidence seems to point to them doing so, yes. :( Whilst I support the Peace Corps (I am an Australian, married to an RPCV) wherever I can, I do think this is a subject worthy of an entry. Chris 20:32, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Purpose and Function Paragraph

This section, especially towards the end seems to be way too opinionated! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.25.135.213 (talk) 23:55, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

Equivalent in Europe

Might not be the best place to ask, but does anyone know if there's an equivalent agency operating in Europe, for european citizens? Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.132.163.105 (talk) 14:44, 3 February 2007 (UTC).

There's the VSO (Volunteer Service Organization), which is based in the UK but I believe employs volunteers from all nationalities.

Calante 04:42, 16 March 2007 (UTC)Calante

It's the Voluntary Service Overseas, a British organisation founded in 1958 (ie before the Peace Corps) and it is the largest independent (non-governmental) volunteer-sending organization in the world. It places no restriction on nationality, accepts people between the ages of 20 and 75 and the average age of its volunteers is 38. 86.142.104.222 (talk) 11:22, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Procedure

Do peace corps volunteers choose where they go or are they assigned to a location? I checked the PC website, but I couldn't tell...

They get to express a regional preference (Africa, South America, Pacific, etc.), but ultimately, the decision is out of their hands, based instead on where their skills and background can most easily fit. — Amcaja (talk) 22:36, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

The application lets you list any regional preferences you may have, as well as any countries/regions you would not want to go to and why. The most recent version of the application (from Sept 06 I believe) also lets you choose one of 4 options: 1) no regional preference or job preference, 2) a strong regional preference but no job preference, 3) a strong job preference but no regional preference, or 4) a strong regional preference and a strong job preference. However, as Brian says, there's still no guarantee. Calante 05:14, 16 March 2007 (UTC)Calante

Overseas Jobs

I found this information a bit discouraging for folks who are seeking employment with the Peace Corps (especially if they only hold a Secret security clearance):

"Likewise a top-secret security clearance for the employee must be granted before travel is authorized overseas." (downloaded April 1, 2007: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=pchq.jobs.overseasOp "Clearances") (Tortillasoup 21:50, 31 March 2007 (UTC))

So? This is the wiki entry for Peace Corps, not a feedback forum for complaints about US gov employment policies. What change do you suggest for the wiki article? 83.103.77.181 (talk) 05:37, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Crisis Corps

Someone has suggested merging Crisis Corps into this article. They are related organizations, but different organizations nonetheless, and I do not think a merge is warranted. The Crisis Corps page could easily grow beyond the stub it is now, discussing the program's creation, scope, selection processes, etc. It is not the Peace Corps. — Amcaja (talk) 01:53, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

I disagree. Since only Peace Corps volunteers can participate in Crisis Corps, the 2 organizations are intrinsically and inextricably linked and it makes sense to merge the articles. Gillian416 18:18, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

That would prevent us from giving a full treatment to the Crisis Corps. From what I understand, they have a different administrative structure, a different volunteer base, different goals, different funding, everything different. The only link is that former (former) PC volunteers serve in the organization. — Amcaja (talk) 22:21, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Crisis Corps is run by the Peace Corps. They're even listed on the PC website at [3]. In addition, as it says at [4], "Are Crisis Corps Volunteers considered Peace Corps Volunteers? Yes. The key difference is that your Crisis Corps assignment is short term. The rules and regulations that apply to Peace Corps Volunteers generally apply to Crisis Corps Volunteers, as well." If Crisis Corps was a separate agency, I could see having a unique article. But as it is now, they belong in the main PC article.--Alabamaboy 16:00, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Alabamaboy. As a currently serving Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines, I have seen the creation of a Crisis Corps program here. The Crisis Corps is based in the same office as the Peace Corps, most of the same staff members working on Peace Corps volunteer support are working with Crisis Corps as well, and many volunteers, as soon as they COS (Close Of Service) they are able to join the Crisis Corps and stay in the country. Crisis Corps is merely another program under the Peace Corps umbrella of which the Peace Corps volunteers are also part. If Crisis Corps managed to grow larger than Peace Corps itself, I could see the separate page being warranted, but as of now that does not seem likely (considering only ex-PCVs can join CC).-- Anonymous

I strongly believe that the Peace Corps is not Crisis Corps. If someone has an article about Crisis Corps then we will be required to talk about a ton of information that we find from personal websites (ie conspiracy theories, volunteer websites, etc.) We will be directly quoting the Peace Corps website in a number of instances and that action is biased.--Eristics (talk) 12:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Actually, Crisis Corps originated with the National Peace Corps Association (see: http://peacecorpsconnect.typepad.com/peacecorpspolyglot/2007/11/from-crisis-cor.html). Incoming Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan liked the program and asked if it could be incorporated into Peace Corps, which it was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peacecorpsconnect (talk • contribs) 20:23, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Needs criticism section

When anyone hears "peace corps" the word "peace" dominates. Despite that, many people criticise the peace corps for -possible CIA/military connections -spreading globalization / capitalism -promoting unhealthy/unsustainable forms of development -raping -giving incomplete knowledge (eg, when they bring libraries they don't provide any feminist / socialist literature)

Due to these controversies and others I can't think of off the top of my head, this article really needs a section on critics/criticisms of the peace corps. While there are sort of scattered proponents/reasons the peace corps is good, there should also probably be a section why the peace corps is good.

Sometime soon I'll provide a list of cites and maybe write some in.

If the criticism is sourced, go for it. But please don't relegate the criticisms to the ghetto of their own little "criticism" section. Instead, spread them throughout the article whre they are pertinent. See Wikipedia:Criticism for guidance. — Amcaja (talk) 05:02, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

There's also this series which caused quite a bit of stir a few years ago: http://www.daytondailynews.com/project/content/project/peacecorps/

--Holdek ^(talk) 07:32, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Sorry if this is off topic, but is the meaning of integrating criticism throughout an article when pertinent (as opposed to having a criticism section) to have, for instance, a section on "dangers of volunteering" if we were to use the website that Holdek cited above?\

You make a good point. The article is not comprehensive as it is, because it includes very little or no information on the application process, training, and the volunteer life. The dangers of volunteering stuff would, in a perfect article, come in a section on volunteer life in general. In the absense of such a section, there's not choice but to withhold the information or give it its own section (for now at least). — Amcaja (talk) 11:38, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Some cites to get people started, in case anyone was aching to edit.
General Imperialism(PC Bad):
CIA connections: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/mn/mn.php?issue=099
Teaching English = imperialist: http://www.leftcurve.org/LC22WebPages/lc22toc.html
Tool of US Foreign Policy: http://www.lgbrpcv.org/articles/08_03_labelle.htm

Development (PC Good):
PC allows developing countries access to info-tech: http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/4150.html

Development / poverty reduction / aids(PC Bad):
Peace corps is too small to help: http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/rieffel20031015.pdf
PCVS spread AIDS: http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Medical-Letter-on-the-CDC-and-FDA/1995-08-14/081495459332372DC.html

I agree with the suggestions here. This article lacks information on 1. How the Peace Corps are viewed by the world in general. 2. Information about Peace Corp statistics (race, age, gender percentages) 3. Information on Peace Corp training and deployment. 4.Information of what countries volunteers serve in. There are several good books on the Corps. Maybe they could provide sources? --S.dedalus 00:45, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Rewriting "Peace Corps in the Media"

I have been rewriting the "Film" section of the Peace Corps article and expanded it to "Peace Corps in the Media."

• In popular culture, the Peace Corps has been used as a comedic plot device in such movies as Airplane, Shallow Hal, and Christmas with the Kranks or used to set the scene for a historic era as when Frances "Baby" Houseman tells the audience she plans to join the Peace Corps in the introduction to the movie Dirty Dancing. I have eliminated the synopses of the aforementioned movies because "Peace Corps" is not the central theme of any of these movies. Even Tom Hanks' Volunteers isn't really about the Peace Corps but is a spoof of The Bridge over the River Kwai. Anyone who has served in the Peace Corps will recognize the distortions, mis-statements, and steroeotypes in Hank's movie, making it almost useless for conveying the experience of being a volunteer. However, the Peace Corps has been documented on film and examined more seriously and in much more depth in several movies and documentaries and I have selected five movies as being representative of a more serious approach to the Peace Corps: Jimi Sir, Death of Two Sons, El Rey, ¿Qué Hacer?, and Day of the Condor.
• I have done the same things with books. There are literally hundreds of returned Peace Corps volunteers who have written books about their experience as Peace Corps volunteers so I have selected five books that are among the most notable for capturing the positive and the negative of the Peace Corps experience: Moritz Thomsen's Living Poor, Alan Weiss' High Risk/High Gain, George Packers's The Village of Waiting, Coates Remond's Come as you Are, and Tom Bissell's Chasing the Sea.
• Now that we have Sections "Film and the Peace Corps" and "Books and the Peace Corps" I have made both these into subsections of "Peace Corps and the Media." I realize that these sections could be expanded with dozens of additional entries but I think I have selected a group that is relatively compact and representative of films and books that best represent the Peace Corps experience. I think we need to keep this section down to size and not add in a lot more entries or it will start to look like our "External Links" section which has way too many outgoing links.

Every statement in each subsection has a citation. I would like make sure that any addition that is made to "Books" or "Films" is relevant, representative, and contains proper citations. Reservoirhill 18:20, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Volunteers is the only well known pop-culture refererence to the Peace Corps. Your personal beliefs that it represents Peace Corps poorly are irrelevant. The movie stands as the only movie about the Peace Corps experience. Under you logic, we should delete a link to the Peace Corps website because it shows Peace Corps volunteers having fun and most Peace Corps volunteers do not have fun all the time. --Eristics (talk) 12:11, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

What still needs to be done in the Peace Corps article

Here is what I think needs to be done to improve the Peace Corps article which is very deficient in a couple of areas:

• The History section in the Peace Corps article is very poor. There are a lot of things missing and there are almost no citations in this section. Someone needs to start from the beginning to write the history making sure that every statement is cited. At this point most of the raw material for the History of the Peace Corps is in the work already done in the Wikipedia biographies of Peace Corps Directors including Kevin O'Donnell, Loret Miller Ruppe, Carolyn R. Payton, Paul Coverdell, Mark Gearan, Mark L. Schneider, Gaddi Vasquez, and Ron Tschetter. These bios have already been written for Wikipedia and are in pretty good shape. The Wikipedia bio for Sargent Shriver is pretty bad as a result of people just adding in a lot of uncited and irrelevant information. It is amazing that there is no Wikipedia bio for Shriver's successor, Jack Vaughn, who presided over the Peace Corps at its highest level (15,556 volunteers in FY66) and made decisions involving Peace Corps policy towards PCV protest of the Vietnam war. There is no biography either for Nixon's appointee for Peace Corps Director Joseph Blatchford who became Director after founding Accion and was involved in a rear guard action to save the Peace Corps from Nixon by incorporating it into the Action Corps, another agency that needs a Wikipedia article.
• The "Purpose and Function" section needs to be rewritten focusing on the three goals of the Peace Corps, providing citations, and expanding what the Peace Corps has done in each of the three areas.
• I agree that a "Peace Corps Volunteer" section needs to be added which talks about the Application Process, the Interview Process, how selection is handled, how volunteers are trained, how volunteers are placed in the field, what volunteers do, how long they serve, safety and security of Peace Corps volunteers needs to be addressed, and the role of returned volunteers and the third goal needs to be in this section.
• I also agree that a section on criticism of the Peace Corps needs to be added which includes not only the standard anti-imperialistic criticisms of the Peace Corps as an agent of empire but the criticisms that Ivan Illich raised in his speech "To Hell with Good Intentions" when Illich talks about the deep dangers of paternalism inherent in any voluntary service activity. The section also needs to talk about failures of the Peace Corps such as the departure from Russia and possibly India and about failures in volunteer Safety and Security such as the Walter Poirier III case, and the Deborah Gardner murder. A discussion of the Peace Corps Safety and Security hearings held in both the Senate by the Foreign Relations committee chaired by Norm Coleman and the House Hearings chaired by Henry Hyde need to be included. The Political Meetings that were held at Peace Corps Headquarters before the 2006 Congressional elections in apparent violation of the Hatch Act need to be addressed in a discussion of the non-partisan basis of the Peace Corps - one of the cornerstones of the agency ever since Democratic President Johnson appointed Republican Jack Vaughn to head the agency in 1966.
• The section on "Executive orders" needs to be expanded to "Peace Corps Legislation" or "The Peace Corps and Congress" to talk about the broader issues of the legislation governing the Peace Corps in much more detail. For example, I didn't see any discussion at all about the "Five Year Rule" which has been one of the unlying principles of the Peace Corps since Shriver or about the separation of Peace Corps and US Intelligence Agencies such as the CIA and NSA that has been mandated by Congress and the safeguards that have been put in place to keep intelligence agencies out of the Peace Corps.

These are the areas that I think need to be worked on to make this a better article. I'll be making some contributions in each of these areas over the next few months. Reservoirhill 18:45, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

I wanted to say how impressed I've been with your recent edits to this article. As an RPCV and a Wikipedia editor, I publicly applaud your work.--Alabamaboy 22:12, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

I wanted to say how unimpressed I've been with your recent edits to this article. As an RPCV and concious individual, I publicly delete your work because it is biased and unnessesary. Please keep in mind, this article is about the Peace Corps, not a place to post the research completed for your other website, peacecorpsonline. Please make a separate project entitled "Former Peace Corps Directors." --Eristics (talk) 04:23, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn

I just created an article for Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn, the second director of the Peace Corps. There is a lot of good material in it, for when someone starts rewriting the History of the Peace Corps section in this article.Reservoirhill (talk) 14:21, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Peace Corps Director Joseph Blatchford

I just created an article for Peace Corps Director Joseph Blatchford, the third director of the Peace Corps and the first director of the Action Corps, the umbrella organization that included the Peace Corps as one of its primary components. There is a lot of good material in it, for when someone starts rewriting the History of the Peace Corps section in this article.Reservoirhill (talk) 22:43, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

User Box for Peace Corps Volunteers

I have created a User Box for Wikipedians that are returned Peace Corps Volunteers. For those that are currently serving, feel free to use it, as you won't be an active Volunteer forever!

This user is or was a United States Peace Corps Volunteer

Michael Hancock (talk) 04:20, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Start new discussions at the bottom of the page

I have moved this new entry from the top of the page to the bottom of the page following the Wikipedia guideline to "Start new discussions at the bottom of the page." "If you put a post at the top of the page, it is confusing and can also get easily overlooked. The latest topic should be the one at the bottom of the page."Reservoirhill (talk) 15:25, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I think your user box is great but..

I think your user box is great but I have a concern that we not be able to use it in Wikipedia because there are restrictions on the use of the official Peace Corps logo which is part of the user box design.

The use of the Peace Corps logo is restricted to official Peace Corps programs authorized under the Peace Corps Act. Accordingly, you must receive permission from the Peace Corps before using the logo. To receive an electronic version of the Peace Corps logo, please specify in writing your intended use and send your request to the Peace Corps Press Office at pressoffice@peacecorps.gov. Please note that because the Peace Corps logo is reserved for official activities authorized by the Peace Corps Act, the logo cannot be used on Volunteer or Returned Volunteer personal Web sites.

Reservoirhill (talk) 03:55, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Famous Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

Should this article include a section for famous RPCVs? Volcycle (talk) 22:06, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

It's a good idea in principle but...

It's a good idea in principle but the trouble is that there are so many Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff who are notable that it would really weigh down the article to include them all or try to decide which ones are "most notable." I think a better solution is to create a new Category:Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and tag RPCVs in their individual biographies. I've already done a lot of work on Former Peace Corps Directors and notable Returned Volunteers and Staff but there is still a lot of work to be done.

A lot of people come to Wikipedia because they are interested in joining the Peace Corps and the article talks about the Peace Corps' history, executive orders, and directors but nowhere does it talk about what a volunteer is, what a volunteer does, how do you join, what are the eligibility requirements etc.

What the article really needs is a completely new section on "The Peace Corps Volunteer" that talks about all these things plus the Application Process, the Interview Process, how selection is handled, how volunteers are trained, how volunteers are placed in the field, what volunteers do, how long they serve, safety and security of Peace Corps volunteers, and the role of returned volunteers and the third goal.

Reservoirhill (talk) 03:07, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

That's a terrible idea on both ends. The Peace Corps site does both of those things well enough. In addition, there is peacecorpswiki now. If people come to wikipedia for real information on the Peace Corps, they've been misled.

Eristics (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 03:54, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Someone else has made another list of notable RPCVs

This morning someone else added another list of notable RPCVs to the article. the list is actually quite extensive and comprehensive. My origianl objections still stand to adding this to the article (see above).

However, I have another idea. I went to look to see how other institutions handle the situation. For example, Yale University has a separate article on List of Yale University people. I suggest we do the same thing with RPCVs and so will start a new article with notable RPCVs.

Best regards,

Reservoirhill (talk) 15:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Here is the new article on notable RPCVs

Here is the new article on List of returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Edit away.

Best regards,

Reservoirhill (talk) 15:15, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Deceptive use of the word 'peace'? Lies and propaganda?

What I see here is a vague organization with neither clear goal nor clear achievements, which seems more intent on perpetrating propaganda, marketing the USA's flag, and is (possibly) a front for alterior motives, as well as clearly a 'false flag' operation in that it has lots to do with photo-ops and nothing whatsoever to do with peace. The basis for this conclusion? This clearly biased pro-Peace Corps article, which despite the blunt propaganda fails to mention anything specificly beneficial on a large scale and out of the media's eye, performed for anything other than patriotic education for youths or positive PR. Call me cynical, but self-professed do-gooders with massive marketing yet without results arouse more suspicion than respect... 128.195.186.48 (talk) 13:35, 6 April 2008 (UTC)Adieu

Feel free to edit the article yourself. It's a wiki, after all. — Dulcem (talk) 13:51, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Criticism

there is some criticism about the effectiveness of the corps and rumors that all they do is smoke pot in the jungle, is there any validity to this? Rds865 (talk) 05:26, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

This probably isn't the right forum for questions like this. Do some research and report back to us! — Dulcem (talk) 05:41, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Policy and News Lacking

This page reads like the organization is editing it. Being a returned volunteer, I have set about adding news articles and deleting where I saw unneccesary. In a reply to a question about my deletion:

The subject matter deleted had nothing to do with the Peace Corps. It's relivance, I determined, was directed towards a positive-only article (approaching propaganda). The entire article stinks of thorough editing done by biased hands. I simply opted to rebalance.

Also, the sections not relating to the Peace Corps should have their own article, as they are not a representation of "Peace Corps."

For example, there was a recent addition of Peace Corps expansion in Africa. The announcement was made in July. It is now July 10th. There was no news about it, but on the Peace Corps website. On the otherhand, there is a great deal of news about Peace Corps kicking out a volunteer because he tested positive for HIV. Yet, this is nowhere to be found on this wikipedia site.

I tend to think articles in an "encyclopedia" should be unbiased and will set about doing so.

Eristics (talk) 03:57, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Having extra information in a article is allowed has long has it pertains to the article like media and controversy related material. By the way, please use the edit summaries in the future, that's probally why the bot reverted your edit has vandalism. --Eric (mailbox) 14:42, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Inclusion of the "Peace Corps in the News" Section in the Main Article

I was originally skeptical when I saw the new section "Peace Corps in the News" appear in the main article last week but now admit that the section has kind of grown on me. The objections to the section are obvious. In the 45+ year history of the Peace Corps there are probably three or four articles a month that would meet the criteria to go into this section. Thus to be comprehensive, the section would have to include 4 times 12 times 45 years = 2,160 articles to encompass the history of the Peace Corps from its inception. However, that is not the purpose of the section - it is to provide a flavor for the activities of the Peace Corps by highlighting recent events so that people can read about what Peace Corps is doing today. The section shouldn't be sugar-coated with pure press release type articles either. Everybody knows that RPCVs are very critical observers of the Peace Corps and there are numerous forums on the web where they discuss these issues fervently. The articles should include ones like the recent murder of a volunteer in the Philippines, the termination of a volunteer in Ukraine who presented with symptoms of HIV, and the recent critical article about the Peace Corps by former Country Director Robert Strauss. Potential volunteers should be able to read about both the positive and the negative about the agency. I have gone in and edited the section to include ten recent top stories about the Peace Corps and have included the headline, a short fair-use quote from the news article, the date of the story, and the reference so that readers can follow the article to read the whole story. Why don't we leave this section for a while and see if others think it serves as useful purpose in the article. I would welcome any remarks, comments, or criticisms of the idea of including this section in the main article.

Best regards,

Reservoirhill (talk) 15:24, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

Here is what the section looks like on July 19, 2008

To provide a flavor of what the Peace Corps is doing today, ten recent new stories about the Peace Corps are provided organized by most recent:

• More Young People Looking for Post-College Stints in Volunteer Corps. "One of the unexpected consequences of the current economic malaise is that more recent college graduates are reportedly deferring their entry into the work force in order to spend a year volunteering." Date: July 3, 2008
• Life in Prison for Killer of Peace Corps volunteer in Philippines. "A judge found 25-year-old woodcarver Juan Donald Duntugan, the lone suspect in the April 8, 2007, killing of Campbell in Batad village, guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment." Date: June 30, 2008.
• Peace Corps/Kenya Program Reopens. "After a four-month hiatus due to unrest after elections in December, a group of 24 Volunteers will arrive in Nairobi on June 10." Date June 6, 2008.
• Peace Corps reopens Program in Liberia. "After an absence of nearly two decades, experienced Volunteers will be serving in the country through a program called Peace Corps Response." Date: June 4, 2008.
• Peace Corps Volunteers in China Are Safe after Earthquake. "There are currently 111 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in China. Individual Volunteers and local counterpart schools have collectively reported that all Volunteers are safe." Date May 12, 2008.
• President Bush Hosts Peace Corps Volunteers at the White House. In his remarks, President Bush said, “Forty-seven years ago, President John F. Kennedy in the Rose Garden sent the first team of Peace Corps Volunteers to Africa. And in the intervening years, more than 190,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have carried our country's great spirit of generosity and compassion throughout the world." Date April 29, 2008.
• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Visits Peace Corps Headquarters. "Secretary Rice’s remarks to 65 Country Directors and headquarters staff officially kicked-off the Peace Corps 2008 Worldwide Country Director Conference." Date: April 28, 2008.
• Ukraine Peace Corps volunteer, Jeremiah S. Johnson sent home after testing positive for HIV. "They told me it was Peace Corps policy for HIV-positive people to be medically separated," Johnson said in an interview. "I was told I could not work anywhere else for the Peace Corps." Date: April 28, 2008.
• Debate is brewing over how the agency can attract greater numbers of older, more experienced volunteers. "You can't replace that experience," said Peace Corps director Ronald Tschetter said in an interview in Addis Ababa. "The same kind of passion that these young people have, these people have … but they have 30 years of experience to bring along with it." Date: April 25, 2008.
• Former Peace Corps Country Director for Cameroon Robert Strauss writes in Foreign Policy magazine that the Peace Corps has never lived up to its purpose or principles. "Today, the Peace Corps remains a Peter Pan organization, afraid to grow up, yet also afraid to question the thinking of its founding fathers," writes Strauss. "The rush to fulfill John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign pledge was such that the Peace Corps never learned to crawl, let alone walk, before it set off at a sprinter’s pace." April 2008.

Wikipedia:Recentism warns strongly against such "current events" sections in articles for reasons you outline above plus many others. I think the original idea for including the section was to highlight controversies the organization is involved in, but such criticism is better woven throughout the article rather than lumped into its own section (for NPOV reasons if for no others). I think we should carefully reconsider adding this long, quickly dated "in the news" stuff. — Dulcem (talk) 23:28, 21 July 2008 (UTC)