themattsmith:

24isthenew25:themattsmith:24isthenew25:themattsmith:inkyeagle:

Oh snap - my first Tumblr throwdown!  Okay, better now screw this up…

I originally stated my argument with themattsmith to be that ” ‘the entitled chaff’ really are the only ones that can afford to work for free.”  I got called out for overstating my case, which, ok, is fair.  If you know me at all, I have a teeny-tiny habit of exaggerating.  Just a little.  Sometimes.

Certainly, less-entitled college students and recent grads can and do figure out a way to make unpaid internships work for them.  It’s hard, and anyone who can swing it deserves a pat on the back.

BUT, how then do these internships separate the trust fund babies from the hard workers like matt?  It doesn’t.  Rich kids coast; poor kids struggle.  According to matt, they still end up at the same place, right?  The most this system does to “separate the wheat from the chaff” is to leave behind the kids who want to just start making money, which, I think, is a totally valid course of action.  Whether you’re thousands of dollars in debt or lucky enough to graduate with no loans to pay back, working - for money - is not only legit, but honorable.  Maybe I took some offense at the suggestion that this path (the one I took, in full disclosure) is somehow less…I don’t know, valid.

Agree?  Disagree?

Not a throwdown, by any means.  Maybe a throw… sideways?

I am not, by any stretch, insinuating that the desire to make money is the lot of the entitled.  I want to make money just as much as the next guy.  I just think the expectation that getting a degree is the final hurdle between you and the money is misguided at best, and dangerous at worst.

That being said- congratulations to you if you are able to find paying work in your field with little difficulty!  I harbor absolutely zero ill will toward you, and am truthfully a little envious.  I was perhaps a little too quick to latch on to your reblog, because of personal experience.

I understand that my perspective on unpaid internships is not universal, but I work in an industry where the practice is pretty much the standard.  I saw SO MANY people in school that felt they were OWED a job, instead of putting in the time, effort, and sacrifice needed to actually GET a job.  And I flew right by them bitches.

Cheers!

full time student, part time job, two unpaid internships. i’m a busy girl. but i know that i’ve got a job in bloomington, in if i want it when i graduate.