In article <1996Apr9.102057.4923@clp2>, [log in to unmask] (Robin Panza) wrote:

> Certainly, a paid internship is a great idea, and something to strive for.
> However, where do students get the idea that they are owed a living for
being a
> student?  You don't get paid for the courses you take.  You don't get paid
for
> the time you put in on a thesis.  Why do you expect to be paid for the
> internship?

well, this is all true, but depending on the student and the point they've
reached in experience/schooling, museums are also getting unpaid,
educated, sometimes trained and experienced labor.  we were required to do
a summer internship for grad school after our first year--so most of us
were educated in art history or whatever area of museum-ing we were
considering, collections management and other first-year grad-school
courses, and a lot of my class already had volunteer or other experience
in museums, galleries, auction houses etc. behind them.  as it happened i
lucked out and when i finished my M.A. the museum where i'd interned hired
me, but if i hadn't had student-loan money to live off of that first
summer, i wouldn't have been able to give them that unpaid time that got
me the job.

the SUNY school where i got my BA just cut their art history program
entirely--meaning poor folks like myself who aspire to culture will be out
of luck.  soon art history will be back in the hands of the elite, where
everybody outside the field (and a few inside?) thinks it already is...

kerry