Internships

[Dan Lupo <Dan_Lupo -at- CCMAIL -dot- US -dot- DELL -dot- COM>]

     ROBERT SIDMAN <sidmanr -at- MCHFMCCM -dot- NAVY -dot- MIL> claimed the following about
     writing internships:

     <snip>
     If an internship is required for graduation, and it should be, there is no
     requirement the employer pays the student. The student is there part-time
     for a limited length of time to get experience, to see the real world (as
     it were), to see how actual procedures vary/do not vary from what is being
     tought in ivory towers.
     <snip>

     What I found in my doctoral research of six professional writing interns is
     a high correlation between an intern's success in writing for the workplace
     and that intern's ability to feel part of the organization.

     I would argue, therefore, that paid internships would enhance an intern's
     feeling of belonging to the organization and would increase his or her
     chances of success.

     And if it is "real world" experience the intern seeks, why not pay them as
     most workers in the real world are paid?  If the internship offers projects
     whose outcome is meaningful to the organization (and ALL internships should
     offer interns such projects), why not compensate the intern accordingly?

     Internships should be seen not _merely_ as the peek into the real world
     described by Robert Sidman.  We need to start viewing internships as a
     necessary, integral, vitally important step in the process of educating
     professional writing students to shift from academic to workplace contexts.
     Part of that transition involves shifting from doing writing for a grade to
     doing writing for money.

     Moreover, (a more practical argument) in at least two instances in my
     study, the demands of working a paying job, going to school, and putting in
     X hours at an unpaid internship had a negative effect on the intern's
     success.

     Let us view interns as the entry-level professionals that they are:
     corporate sponsors--pay your writing interns; interns--demand paid
     internships.

     Dan Lupo