The Chronicle of Higher Education just posted a piece about the injustice of unpaid internships.
It's always good to see this issue receive attention, but there are a number of aspects to unpaid internships that I simply fail to understand. So I've got a few questions of my own, such as:
1) How is it that most students are charged academic credits (90+% according to the UMD internship study) and yet they're unpaid BECAUSE they earn credits? Isn't that double-penalizing them?
2) Why aren't higher ed institutions held accountable for where internship tuition credit funds go? It's obviously not being put toward career centers, which often must operate on shoe-string budgets. (yes, I know many are decentralized and that department coordinators are compensated, etc. but really ... )
3) Why, if the students are supposed to be doing "real work" are unpaid internships an exception to the minimum wage law? Don't they also tend to devalue students among supervisors who then fail to provide the best experience?
WHY DO SOME SCHOOLS WITH CREDIT INTERNSHIPS DICTATE THAT STUDENTS SHOULDN’T BE PAID????
4) Per the focus of The Chronicle piece, it's obvious that unpaid internships create an socioeconomic divide in places like Manhattan and DC? Why is this modern injustice accepted? What can we collectively do? (the author has some good suggestions).
5) Why are we keeping our emerging workforce poor? It makes no economic sense.
6) Why do institutions bend over backwards to accommodate businesses that don't pay students (ie. "zero-based" credit waivers - which seem to be GAINING favor!)
7) Why aren't NACE, NSEE, CEIA and the regionals doing anything to advocate change? If not them, who would?
Sorry, I'm a little feisty today. Hope you don't mind a friendly debate.
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