I don't want to cut off this thread but since I started it I thought I should
chime in at this point to say the response has been fascinating, especially
the number of responses. Feel free to continue to respond but I think I want
to carry this into an article and/or a session at AAM next year so I may be
in touch with some of you about that. It seems there continues to be a rather
major canyon between the "haves" and the "have nots" (in this case meaning
those that have a job in the museum field and those that don't). Also some
seem to wear the "vow of poverty" they have taken to work in the museum field
a little too proudly (I hate to break the news to some of you starving out
there  but I think it's important for some of the students on line to know
another reality: that some of us are paid very well for doing what we love to
do in museums).
Jeanne Finan