Experience isn't incredibly imperative for your application, but it's important for obtaining a GA. The program you described may be beneficial depending on how it's structured. If you're just taking notes and sitting in on the class but not actually interacting with the students then I would say no. But if you're working with the students, meeting with them to go over notes, or anything like that then yes. That sort of experience could be very valuable if you landed a GA in disablity services or academic support.
From what I read of your original post, it seemed that you wanted to live abroad and have a graduate degree more than you want to become a change-maker. I've met people that have tried to vigorously defend their life decisions when no one is questioning their right to make said choices:
"You know, I got accepted to Cornell! But I decided to go to SUNY Binghampton because it was cheaper for me." I hadn't even asked her about why she decided to go there, only where Binghampton was because I was from the West Coast.
"I could have gone to an elite American university, but I decided to go to a Turkish university for the experience." We were all counselors in a summer camp, and this guy was one of two counselors who had not gone to a brand name American university. No one had made him feel inferior about his university choice or his intelligence.
You seem to draw an arbitrary line between yourself and "white collar types" in terms of making a difference. Of course, anyone can make a difference. As Rayzaa pointed out, Malala Yousafzai is now a Nobel Peace Prize winner due to her immense motivation to bring gender equality to Pakistan. Of course, she was only fourteen years old and sans grad degree when she made waves around the world. No one here is trying to belittle you for the choices you are making. And yet, you deny yourself a seat at this table in order to denigrate people, albeit subtly.
"Do you people realize that most of these jobs pay shit? You can do better as an honest hardworking plumber."
"So in order to save the world (and to be able to afford it) you must be willing to spend two hours commuting per day? That's ten hours per day and 500 hours per year. A significant amount of time that one could be using to actually make a difference..."
"I won't be working 50 hours a week at some cubicle job an hour away as I tell everyone how great I am for saving the world."
Let me respond to some of your comments, which I found quite thoughtless.
"I was recently in Myanmar and was saddened to see that the locals drank straight from the filthy river that they bathed in and god knows what kind of runoff was contained in there. What I'm suggesting is that there's another way to create a fulfilling life for yourself, in which you can devote your career to helping these people and solving these issues." Well, the reality is that someone else is making positive change for people in Myanmar, not you. They may not even have a grad degree or student debt. The first sentence of this comment is equivalent to "praying for help" posts on Facebook that I dislike. Being saddened about this is not the equivalent to taking action on this issue.
"Why not get more real world work experience and reapply when ad-coms feel that you'll have so much to offer that they are willing to educate you for free?" If you look at Harvard Kennedy School's fellowship application, most of them require you to have demonstrated leadership skills and dedication to public service. I'm not sure that being a plumber for 20+ years is the best way to go about that.
"A significant amount of time that one could be using to actually make a difference..." The amount of commute time spent on the DC metro during my two internships was indeed great, but I used it to read several books on current news and hot-button topics in society. It was productive time. Furthermore, you can reframe this as a sacrifice or price paid in order to have the dream career that Rayzaa and others want. There are higher pursuits than that of money.
"I won't be working 50 hours a week at some cubicle job an hour away as I tell everyone how great I am for saving the world." I found this truly insulting because my parents worked overtime and extra hours at their jobs in order to afford me debt-free university. It wasn't a necessity for them but rather a choice born out of love. There are reasons other than student debt that a person might opt to work extra hours. That extra ten hours of work per week could be helping people around the world. Furthermore, if you end up working for a non-profit, you might very well be that same person working fifty hours a week because the project is due in a week and people's lives depend on it being done. Also, given that you previously said that you wanted to work in a Southeast Asian nation, perhaps you'd still want your children to be educated in the States rather than, let's say, Thailand if you don't want to send them to an American-style school for children of diplomats until they absorb the language of the host country. That's an expensive proposition there.
"(and sucking up to phony DC types at happy hours)" There are definitely phony types everywhere you go. They're not limited to DC, and you might even find some in Southeast Asia. Dealing with phonies is something that happens in life, much to Holden Caulfield's disdain. But I am amused that you think that this is an intrinsic facet of people who work in DC. Stereotype much?
"Bragging about how great your school is ... That joy quickly wears off" I don't doubt that some people apply to and hope to be accepted to these schools for the name brand and prestige, but others will attend them because that school and its connections are what will allow them to quickly scale into a job and career that they desire. The people who go into these top programs are not children showing off flashy toys. You belittle everyone who is in the latter category by saying this.
For potential students who are very concerned about student debt, if you are a high-achieving student, look into Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School program for a school that funds all its students. As in: every MPA graduate exits that school with zero student debt. Yale Jackson Institute has a generous endowment from what I hear (and at least for this 2017-18 application cycle, they waived the application fee if you applied before December 1). If you're an exceptional student then Harvard Kennedy School has a number of merit scholarships you have to apply for. There are also excellent external funding sources that you can retrieve from Harvard Kennedy School's Student Financial Service database, and it is publicly accessible. You might have to hustle for money, but the worthwhile things in life are the ones we have to work for.
Overall, I find this post to be attempting to justify a certain life path and payoff matrix to people who have already chosen a different path and have different payoff matrices. Your note on student debt is sound, and I will add to that by saying that student debt should not exceed 150% of starting salary. People should do research before they enter possible debt and student loans. However, to say that all people who have made this choice are "not thinking clearly" insults hundreds of students and graduates who have already opted to do so because they have different values than you. It is kind of you to suggest a different career path, but in the future, I recommend that you carefully consider how you come across as a person. Condescension isn't a good look on anyone.
