Mr. Paletta cautions us wisely about the potential classist features of internships. Colleges DO need to provide financial aid or grants in order to ensure that internships are available to all students, not just the wealthy ones. However, internships need not provide a relaxing break from education. I have no problem with students working a paying job as well as taking an upaid internship. Learning to balance commitments and to find cheap housing through friends (even if it involves sleeping on the floor) are life skills worth learning. As for undercutting the value of education—that argument seems weak. Most of our students (rich and poor) return from internships with a new respect for the value of their education-and those who supervise these interns become new advocates for Washignton & Jefferson College and for a liberal arts education. Internships provide outstanding evidence of the “leg up” provided by a college education, and they allow students to explore what it means to put their liberal arts educations to work.

Tori Haring-Smith, at 7:35 am EST on February 19, 2008

I have worked at 2 universities that have two outlooks. One , a small private liberal arts school, REQUIRES its student to have an internship and helps find them. They are not all summer ones- not all are paid. At my current school, a large public university, many majors encourage intrnships, and they are usually part of a course taken during the year. Essentially a course that applies to the degree is at the same time an internship- and one of high quality monitored by faculty. At this university, sutdent surveys report internships are very valuable to them in their careers. So here are some positive solutions that most likely are employed by other colleges. I think the discussion in this report is a bit skewed— at least from my viewpoint.mary

mary, at 9:55 am EST on February 19, 2008

Internship Racket

As an internship program manager, I have seen the benefit of work-integrated learning repeatedly. Yes, it is unfair that some students can not afford the internship experience and not every internship experience is outstanding. Rather than look at a valid learning methodology and assessment tool as a racket, why not look to a multitude of ways to provide funding... state grants, Chambers of Commerce donations, scholarships, etc. I hope the author bought the intern lunch a few times!

Jean, Manager, Internship Program, at 1:05 pm EST on February 19, 2008

Further scrutiny of internships is certainly warranted. But we need to be careful about believing the statement made in the article that colleges are promoting internships as more valuable than the education provided. Colleges promote internships as an important component of the collegiate education — an opportunity to test classroom learning — but not more important than classroom learning. When done well, college internship programs layer an academic or reflective component to work done at an internship site. It isn’t one or the other — it is the synthesis of academics and work at the site that is powerful and impressive for students’ future endeavors.

Rachel, Assistant Director/Internship Coordinator, at 3:55 pm EST on February 19, 2008

Misplaced Blame?

Anthony,

Thanks for a thought-provoking piece (not to mention the thought-provoking comments it has generated so far!).

I, too, have several thoughts to contribute to the discussion:

1) I think that, in some ways, you’re preaching to the wrong choir (i.e., higher education institutions). While I agree with you in some respects about higher education’s responsibilities regarding this issue — especially when it comes to your comment on how some schools require students to obtain (and pay for!) academic credit for internships (often in response to employers’ requirements) — you say almost nothing about EMPLOYERS’ responsibilities.

Should colleges and universities, for example, really have to come up with financial programs to help students accept internships (especially unpaid internships) when it is EMPLOYERS that develop and — implicitly or explicitly — require the experience that results from those internships? The bigger problem is the fact that too many employers — particularly in the nonprofit world as well as the entertainment industry (among others) — either can’t or (some would argue) won’t come up with the money themselves. “We don’t have the budget” is the frequent refrain.

In other words ... where’s the skepticism toward the EMPLOYERS of college students and new grads, who often come off as wanting something for (next to) nothing in this process?

2) That said ... in DEFENSE of employers, how can they realistically evaluate students’/grads’ WORK-related capabilities and traits without seeing them in action — firsthand? Show me any entry-level employer and I will show you someone who has been burned at least once by a bad new-grad hire — perhaps even a perfect 4.0 student from a top school whose grades and “book knowledge” were (or must have been) exceptional but whose on-the-job attitudes and actions were sorely lacking ... something the employer discovered much too late because the student had no real-world experience through internships and the like.

From the employer’s perspective, there is simply too much at stake — in the form of money especially (connected to recruitment, training, productivity, etc.) — to take students/grads (and their schools) on their academic word alone. I fear that any school taking the “bold step” you suggest — arguing that “our education alone is good enough” — will be laughed at (or worse) by employers.

3) I have many colleagues who work in campus career centers and/or internship offices. (Note: I’m a former career services professional myself.) In my view, this group of people as a whole is one of the few on campus (VERY generally speaking) who actually understand and acknowledge the expectations of both “planets” we’re dealing with here — i.e., academia and employers — not to mention the increasingly visible “planet” known as parents. It doesn’t strike me as fair (or accurate) to characterize their efforts to bridge these two worlds as “encourage[ing] the flawed culture of internships.” Indeed, these professionals seem to be among the relatively few on most campuses who understand the full range of their schools’ constituencies and the expectations (demands?) of each — and who, more importantly, are working to address them.

Again, thanks for your article, Anthony — and for letting me respond.

Peter Vogt Author, “Career Wisdom for College Students"Publisher, “Campus Career Counselor”

Peter Vogt, Author, “Career Wisdom for College Students”, at 5:45 am EST on February 20, 2008

ABOLISH INTERNSHIPS

The basic problem with internships is that they’re unnecessary. Whatever valuable learning students gain from a semester of unpaid work can just as easily be gained from paid work after they graduate. The only reason employers ask for internships is that they reduce the cost of training entry-level employees. This process used to be called “your first real job.”

Another factor fueling internships is employer pressure. In my province (Alberta), community colleges typically have employer advisory committees for each program (accounting, youth worker, graphic arts, etc.) which have significant influence over the program requirements. NATURALLY an employer is going to recommend that work experience in the field be a requirement of graduation. What employer wouldn’t prefer to hire someone who already knows her way around a newsroom, a daycare, an accounting department? And since educational institutions like having good relationships with employers and like being able to say that their graduates get good jobs, they go along with the scam.

I’ve been forced to participate in unpaid internships in order to receive various educational credentials. I find it particularly offensive that the student is often forced to find the position herself, which as the article pointed out, simply rewards the well-connected and further handicaps those who are already less advantaged. While selling yourself to an employer is certainly a useful lifeskill, I don’t think it’s the kind of skill that colleges and universities should be in the business of teaching.

Another problem with internships is that all too often the DON’T provide valuable experience. Employers who aren’t paying you anything can be remarkably uninterested in making good use of your time. They can also be understandably reluctant to put any effort into training you if you’re only going to be there for 125 hours. Yes, some employers may use the internship as a means of testing out potential employees, which would require giving the intern some meaningful work, but there is nothing in the situation that prods employers to do that. An employer doesn’t lose anything by wasting the time of an intern. An employer will however be very interested in getting the best value out of a worker whose time the employer IS paying for. So on a work experience for a computer technology program, I spent a lot of time typing and formatting Word documents.

Internships shoudl be abolished. The first step should be the elimination of educational credit for them. For internships where the intern does real work, she deserves real pay, not credits. Otherwise, it’s slave labour, enforced by educational instutions to benefit themselves, not their students and eagerly exploited by employers.

Barb L.

barb labuer, at 4:10 pm EDT on March 9, 2008

Internship Racket

I think the title “Internship Racket” is appropriate. I think one of the biggest points that I believe the author missed is that, well-off or poor, one of the most exploitative aspects of internships is students pay to work for free. In order to subvert labor law (not paying minimum wage), most organizations require that the student take the internship for college credit.

Some of the worst industry offenders in the above are the sports and entertainment industries (who know that they have kids lined up to work for free, in hopes that it will lead to a job). One could also argue that universities are complicit in this “racket” (as they seem to turn a blind eye to this, as it helps generate FTEs).

Stephen McDaniel, Associate Professor at University of Maryland, at 4:20 pm EDT on March 28, 2008