Just a couple of comments on the internship fracas:

I think internships are an important step to getting into the field, but
I also think that museum's have come to rely too heavily on the free
labor of interns.  Yes, everyplace is cash-strapped, but there is
something to be said about the idea that professionalism is connected to
being paid.  If this were like law school or med school, where you knew your
hard work was going to be rewarded tenfold in the future,that's one
thing.  Yes, most of us love working in museums and feel very lucky to be
doing it, but the work we are doing IS valuable.  We need to recognize
that and expect to be paid accordingly.


On the weeding out of interns:  Yes it will weed people out, but I think
the whole point of the first post is that those who are weeded out first
will be those who are (for a variety of reasons, including the whole history
of race, gender, class, ethnicity in the US) people who come from groups
that are not European-American middle-to upper middle-class people from
well-educated families.

I think that there is a general consensus in museums that serving a diverse
 audience is a good 0thing (see:  Excellence and Equity, and the recent
recepients of various
NEA, NEH, NSF, IMS and McArthur, Getty grants).  One way of doing this is to
have a museum staff that is also representative of a diverse public (again, see
:Excellence and Equity).  If internships are the primary way of getting
your feet wet, then internships have to be made accessible to folks who
can't necessarily afford to take 6 months to a year "off" to do them.

I think there is some difference between internships that are tied
directly to completion of degrees, because in that situation there is a
system, however lame, of loans so that a person can have a place to sleep
and food to eat (barely) while this is going on.  As to internships that
aren't tied to programs, YES people feel they are owed something.  They
are doing WORK, and Republicans, Democrats, Perotists, Communists and
Montana Freeman all agree that people should receive some sort of
concrete  compensation for their hard labor.  Concrete:  Food, money,
land--not the sheer pleasure of being in a museum.  I think it's
over-blowing how wondeful museums are to say that slaving for nothing in
a museum is just such a great reward, and a person shouldn't complain.
I don't think museums in general are doing such a fantastic job at what
they want to do that they can just sort of blow off all these people and
have the cavalier attitude, that "well, they couldn't hack, the people
who stayed are the truly commited ones..."  Meanwhile, all those people
who couldn't hack excessive loans or poverty are probably doing quite
well, contributing to other fields... and the rest of us in museums loose
out.



Unprofessionalism: If it's purely a learning situation, then interns
will treat it like school.  In my 18+  years of school I hardly ever
worked hard because I felt I owed it to my teachers,
professors, schools
or univeristies to do well in class. I worked hard because it benefitted
me.  I have felt committed to work situations because the relationship
was more mutually beneficial, if the institution prospered, I prospered.
If interns often aren't doing a great job, they may be lame, BUT they may
either feel no commitment to the insitution because they are not getting
paid, or they feel that it actually isn't benefitting them.

Museum work vs. Teaching:  I think Matthew White's point about diversity
in schools vs. museums is interesting.  One reason could be that
museums are perceived as "extravagant, elitist institutions"  while
schools are perceived as necessary, important stepping stones to
getting ahead in life.  Also, over the long run, teachers do make
better money than many museum folks.  I think the student teaching
analogy is a good one, although, most teachers don't student teach for
more that a year, whereas to break into the museum field, you might
find yourself doing a lot more internships.  Also, today a lot of
teacher ed. programs have better systems of reimbursement for student
teachers--fellowships, loans, grants, and some school districts do pay
student teachers.  (Although I know there are lots of teachers who
would say it ain't as great a picture as I paint)

Finally on the car thing:
Actually, the institution probably did care that you had a car, because
otherwise, how would you have gotten to the museum?  Unless you are in
one of the 12 cities in the US that has a really great public
transportation system, you are going to have to drive, and cars
cost---GOSH!!--money.


 ------
 Liz Cook
 Student, Museum Education Program, GWU [log in to unmask]