Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) challenged a crowd of 200 students last night at Harvard Law School to resist the lure of corporate law and high finance and encouraged them to go into public service.

"We need to get people who come out of law school and business school and the mainstream business of making money, to commit themselves to public service," he said.

Kerry encouraged his audience to devote four or five years to their community, working as teachers, in the armed services or in the police corps. He stressed that there is time for "four or five careers in the span of a lifetime."

Kerry's call for public service touched a chord with members of his audience, many of whom are currently contemplating future careers.

"It's exactly what we need at this time," said Barra R. Little, a first-year law student and tutor for pre-law students in Quincy House. "I was planning on going into corporate law, but he really made me think about things that I never have before. We do have our whole lives."

Kerry opened by discussing the recent movie Saving Private Ryan,which he used as an illustration of "citizen/soldiers," people he said who are willing to commit themselves to civil service.

Kerry compared the outlook of World War II soldiers to his own experiences in Vietnam.

"Unlike the war we went to, which was filled with divisiveness, where we went for one year and came back, they went for three to four years, until the job was done," he said. "Everyone knew they were going to face death."

Kerry compared the World War II level of public commitment to that of contemporary American society. "As a country, we would be very hard-pressed to find that kind of commitment today," he said.

A major theme in his speech was the need for grassroots, local action, spurred on by individual activism, as opposed to broad reforms sponsored by the federal government.

Kerry condemned the state of politics in Washington as "obscene."

"We have pathetic, almost infantile debate. We worry endlessly about `values,' which have precious little to do with the real concerns of the country," he said. "This is not what I went into politics for, and I'm embarrassed. And I'm sure you are, too."

The author of the Early Childhood Act, Kerry focused extensively on the need to help young children in America, citing a barrage of statistics.

"Every eight seconds a child drops out of school, every 15 seconds a child is arrested, every 34 seconds a child is born out of wedlock, every hour and a half a child is shot, every four hours a child commits suicide," he said.

Kerry stressed the need for more early intervention programs and improved education, but said that he did not expect the impetus for such changes to come from Washington.

"I'm smart enough to understand that a Senate and a House dominated by Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich will not embrace a throw-the-money-at-the-problem-leftist solution; the New Deal era is dead," he said.

As a result, Kerry said that he favors the "empowerment" of local programs, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, Big Brother/Big Sister programs and "faith-based institutions."

During the question-and-answer period following his speech, Kerry was asked what incentives he would use to attract qualified, energetic teachers. "It's got to be economic. That's the reality today," he said.

Kerry also addressed the issue of campaign finance reform. While he said that it would take "a major scandal, at the level of Watergate," or a strict presidential mandate to pass any finance reform legislation, he said that the need was pressing.

"We ought to have a society where people can run for president based on their record, not on their huge bankroll," he said.

Asked about rumors of his own presidential ambitions, Kerry said he is contemplating a run for the White House in 2000.

"I am thinking seriously about running," he said. "I just went up to New Hampshire to dip my toes in the water, and it was quite warm."