MAKING OF A PCV

Joining the Peace Corps today can be both easier and harder than ever before, but its definitely quicker.

The key to the continuing high quality of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's) is the selection process where a staff headed by the psychologist who helped choose the first U.S. Astronauts weighs the background and indicated abilities of each applicant against the list of available assignments.

It's a little easier to become a Volunteer today simply because there are many more jobs available. This year the Peace Corps will attempt to fill the largest batch of requests ever -- 7,000 Volunteers to work in nearly 300 job categories in 46 host countries.

On the other hand it's also more difficult to join today's Peace Corps because the selection process gives greater recognition to job competence, requiring more sophistication in some categories and placing more emphasis on finding exactly the right person for a specific assignment.

Faster Acceptance

The selection system has been constantly re-examined and refined in the five years since applicant 001 filled out his Questionnaire. After sifting more than 160,000 applicants, the selectors have a fair idea of what makes a potentially good PCV, and today the typical applicant can expect to know within six weeks from the time the Peace Corps recieves his application whether he will be invited to serve.

If a Peace Corps applicant makes it through the preliminary selection process, he is invited to a 13-week training program at one of more than 100 American universities or colleges where his special Peace Corps curriculum will include:

* Language training -- total "immersion" in an intensive program of up to 300 hours that leads to early conversational ability. Previous knowledge of the language is not a requirement.

* Technical studies -- skills needed for the type of work be will perform.

* Area studies -- background in the culture in which he will work.

* American studies -- refresher courses in U.S. history, geography, institutions.

* World affairs -- background in current events.

* Health -- training in which the Volunteer learns to protect himself and also acquires educational techniques to improve health conditions in the host country.

Volunteers whose assignments overseas call for strenuous physical conditioning are given additional training for outdoor living which may include hiking, rock-climbing, swimming and map reading. Proficiency in these activities, however, is not required. While such training was recommended for future community development workers in the mountains of Chile, for example, it would not necessarily be required for someone planning to teach English in an urban setting.

Rated By Peers

The selection process continues throughout training. Each trainee receives a thorough medical checkup, a psychiatric screening and a full background investigation. He is judged by each of his instructors and rated by his poers.

On the basis of all available information, the overall suitability of each trainee is continually evaluated during training and at the end of the training period. About three out of four trainees are sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers.

"In the beginning, training was preparation for Peace Corps service; now it is a part of Peace Corps service," says Jules Pagano, acting director of the Division of University Relations and Training.

"Learned Through Experience"

"We used to try to cram people with as much information as possible, plus all the language and physical training we could manage, and hope the exposure would prepare them for their service overseas. We learned through experience that this was not enough. The transition between preparation and actual doing was not adequate --sometimes not even relevant.

"As a result, we have tried to integrate all the components of the training program into real-life experiences in the field, based on the needs of specific projects and countries," Pagano explained. "The training period has been expanded to 13 weeks with at least three of those weeks devoted to actual field assignments such as working in the slums of New York or Puerto Rico, practice teaching on Indian reservations or doing community development in the Virgin Islands."

Another change in the training program is greater concern with the total learning process, he said.

"We are trying to make everything in the program relevant to the Peace Corps experience," he pointed out. "Training is now more generally educational, rather than just 'how to.' More attention is being paid to attitudes and sensitivities in preparing trainees for their cross-cultural experiences."

As the training programs become less academic, colleges and universities are cooperating enthusiastically in providing the kind of preparation the Peace Corps needs. Pagano said. "To do this we are using off-campus facilities related to expected country experience." Dartmouth training programs for French-speaking Africa, for example, now go on to Quebec for practical field experience." (See story on Junior Year Program, page 2.)

As might be expected, this transition in training procedures also has jumped the cost of Peace Corps training from $2,400 per Volunteer to $2,700. Pagano said, but he believes the results will be worth it.