>One more (hopefully the last) word on this subject.  I wish I had a dollar
>(inflation) for every time one of my paid professional colleagues told me
>that theu would like to attend such-and-such conference, but they can't
>because their institution won't pay for it.  Don't be so hard on students
>who say they can't afford to go.

Which is precisely why so many Museum veterans  take proverbial umbrage
in this and in preceding, similar threads (see recent discussion on paid
vs. unpaid internships)  When some  people just starting out or trying to
start a career are complaining that they do not have certain things or
benefits (money to pay for conferences or in the internship discussion a
car) it rings hollow  or as spoiled to those of us who have been in the
profession for awhile and also do not have those benefits or things or
who have been forced to make the very sacrifices that (some by no means
all) students and young professionals see as unfair or impossible.  It
isn't that we are unsympathetic.   On the contrary, being in the same
boat or having been in the same boat in the past we are all too familiar
with the problems.  Since we have more experience in the museum life,
however, we see the problems of young professionals as surmountable
obstacles, not as  absolute barriers to entering the profession.  I think
that if young or soon to be  professionals on this list would phrase such
problems in terms of questions (ie How  can I attend a conference with no
money to spare?) Instead of representing these problems as newly arisen
difficulties us cold hearted old timers could never understand.   For the
veteran's part we sometimes do, as one poster said way back when, wear
our poverty as a badge, and we should give sound advice  (as many people
try to do but usually are drowned out in the generational squabbling)
instead of giving adapted versions of the old "when I was young I had to
walk to the Museum in the snow with no shoes on" speeches.  But as long
as some students or young professionals persist in complaining rather
than asking for advice or offering  _constructive_  solutions, that is
precisely the speech we will see more of.  (sigh)


These thoughts are mine and do not reflect the opinions of my employer,
co-workers, employees, friends, relatives, or significant others.

Matthew A. White
Director of Education and Internship Coordinator
Baltimore Museum of Industry
1415 Key Highway
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410)727-4808
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