I appreciate your opinion Xana, but very much disagree with your suggestion that, "the experiences people were sharing," were "missed". Especially as you were not party to the far larger number of responses by people who were unwilling to be drawn into the public castigation of people with different takes on the system... different takes by people who went through the system.
As is common, people picked what particular part they wished to respond to. That is well and good, but there also needs to be an awareness that others have had different experiences and that the opinions generated by those experiences are just as valid as anyone else's. I'd be happy to discuss this further with you privately. On Friday, August 16, 2013, Xana Hermosillo wrote: > Neahga, > > To be fair, your statement of "There were a voluble few who posted publicly > and vehemently defending the internship system" is inaccurate. You really > missed what experiences people were sharing. > > Everyone that responded to your post were in defense of experiences with > AmeriCorps where one receives a monthly stipend. Not to mention that most > AmeriCorps programs provide health insurance, education award, paid loan > forbearance interest, etc. > > -Xana > > > On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 6:29 AM, Neahga Leonard > <[email protected] <javascript:;>>wrote: > > > A while back I posed a similar question to the Ecolog community and found > > that many were skeptical and bothered by the prevalence of unpaid > > internships, but were only willing to post their skepticism privately. > > There were a voluble few who posted publicly and vehemently defending > the > > internship system. > > > > I'll be interested to see what replies you recieve, especially in light > of > > some of the class action suites surrounding this issue in the journalism > > profession. > > > > > > > > On Thursday, August 15, 2013, Mitch Cruzan wrote: > > > > > Hi John, > > > I'm glad you brought this up because we see a wide range of > internships > > > advertised on ecolog and it is difficult to tell which ones are going > to > > be > > > the most beneficial for students. For example, there are some > non-profit > > > organizations in the tropics and elsewhere that offer internships, but > is > > > unclear whether there are mentors available with adequate training and > > > background to make these optimal education experiences. I share many of > > > these posts with a large number of students here in the PNW via > forwards > > to > > > our "Biology Opportunities" email listservice, so It would be good if > > there > > > were a rating system or feedback forum on these different organizations > > - I > > > would like to know that these are actually valuable education > experiences > > > for students and not just a mechanism to get cheap labor. > > > Mitch Cruzan > > > > > > On 8/15/2013 9:41 AM, John Gerlach wrote: > > > > > >> I've been researching opportunities to gain experience in new areas in > > >> order to qualify for a wider range of jobs. A common theme is the "pay > > for > > >> experience" "careerships" and internships and receive training and > some > > >> form of certification. One example is coral reef survey work and SCUBA > > >> certification with stays of at least 4 to 8 weeks and PADI Advanced > Open > > >> Water or Dive Master certification. There are a plethora of these on > Koh > > >> Sdach Island adjacent to Cambodia's Botum Sakor National Park that > seem > > to > > >> be mostly British non-profits and private companies. > > >> > > >> I'd appreciate information and advice about these kinds of programs in > > >> general as well as those on Koh Sdach and other reef areas in > > particular. > > >> > > >> Thanks, > > >> > > >> John > > >> > > > > > > > -- > > Neahga Leonard > > > > *There is not just a whole world to explore, there is a whole universe to > > explore, perhaps more than one.* > > http://writingfornature.wordpress.com/ > > > -- Neahga Leonard *There is not just a whole world to explore, there is a whole universe to explore, perhaps more than one.* http://writingfornature.wordpress.com/
