argh

[jazzfish]

I'm personally unfamiliar with the word 'practicum' so I've been describing it as "an unpaid internship."

Noel just pointed out that it's actually worse than an unpaid internship: I'm paying for the privilege of providing unpaid labour. And since I'm not a wet-behind-the-ears college student, they'll be getting a decent amount of actual labour out of the process.

Sigh. At least there's the credential at the end of it.

(Starts Monday, with a week of actually-in-office.)

Comments

[sartorias]

It's a scam that a lot of people cannot afford in order to jump through that last hoop, alas.

[jazzfish]

It is -awful- and I wish it were different, and I am not prepared to make a lot of noise to try and make it so. /:

[sartorias]

Neither is my daughter, who keeps trying to make the sunup to jump her last hoop (internship) but just can't afford to go a year without pay. She's already maxed out on loans, sigh. What a cruel system.

[jazzfish]

ARGH. She has my deepest sympathies.

[jessie_c]

They claim that it'll help you put all of your education into practise and give you some experience in the working environment in your chosen field.
In reality it allows them to farm out free labour to companies which will then be more inclined to donate to the school.

[jazzfish]

... that last bit had somehow not occurred to me, but of course it is. Bah. Joke's on them, in my case: the BC government is unlikely to make any donations, and the "funding / tax breaks" arm is likely sufficiently separated from BC Geo that there won't even be much of a casual connection there.

[jessie_c]

The Old Boys network has it covered.

[greenstorm]

This is why I can't take the UBC farm "practicum" or any programs that require it seriously: they not only get people to pay for the privilege of working on the farm, but then they go to the farmer's market where they can undercut other farmers using that labour and supported by that money (and the university "free land"). If I wasn't so disgusted by that system I may have switched to agroecology instead of continuing forestry

[jazzfish]

Good lord. That is awful.