I promised I would not get into the fray on this one, but so much for the
best laid plans of mice and men...

Isn't this why we all go through college? Some of us working full time and
going to school full time, juggling multiple demands, etc? To get where we
know we belong. My undergraduate degree was in the humanities, but my career
has always been in museums. The common thread is a love of story and
context. I began at one of the lowliest positions in a top ten museum (at a
50% pay cut from my in school job), worked my way up rather quickly, moved
to a somewhat smaller institution and then to a director position in a small
museum. My student loan, tiny as it was by comparison to some, was paid off
about five years after my degree was conferred.

The thing to remember is, as Brenda so eloquently stated, that we are in a
field where we are happy. Our work offers the richness of exploration and
discovery, lifelong learning and lively human exchange. This work has been
devalued since inception. The poor pay is not some sort of penance for our
happiness, it is, unfortunately, a hold over from the late nineteenth
century when the multi-generational affluent (or clergy folk) founded and
staffed many of our museums and institutions. They did not need to earn a
living. We do.

Other non-archival/curatorial positions in museums are fairly well paid for
the not for profit sector. Development, marketing, publications, finance,
etc. are often paid competitively for the not for profit world. The argument
must be made to executive directors and boards of directors that without
collections or stories to tell, these other positions, including their own,
lack any basis for existence.

There. It is off my chest.

Happy Monday, all!

Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Belinda Nickles
Sent: Monday, April 12, 1999 11:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Paying for College


To Indigo Nights:

Was yesterday a bad day?  Surely you know Mr. Martinson and
I were just being facetious (especially the part about promising
your first-born child).

I'll try to keep this post short (famous last words), but I
feel the need to address some of your remarks.  I too went to
college years apart.  The first time, my husband and I were in
school full-time, working part-time, raising two children--ages
4 and 5--and paying all our expenses.  The second time, we
sold our house to pay for college and still needed a student
loan for me to go to grad school.

I knew going in that museums couldn't afford to pay me what
I'm worth--in central Illinois I make less than a beginning
teacher.  But I have a career that I love and at 49 that is
very important to me.

A student loan was there when I needed it, however, it is
going to take a long time to pay it off.  Some students and
some of those already working have this rosy idea that once
they are out of college there will be a position waiting for
them that will cover all their expenses and still allow them to
eat regularly (I've actually met some of them!).  As others on
Museum-L can testify, you don't always find that kind of job
right away.  Those with that unrealistically rosy view need to
be reminded that a student loan is a long time committment.
That's what Mr. Martinson and I were doing.

Belinda Nickles