Tuition – for work and learning

This April Jen has to do something referred to as an early practice experience. Samford was supposed to place her at a site in Birmingham where she would spend three weeks working for free to get course credit. However, for some reason Samford placed her in Maryville, just outside of Knoxville for those not familiar with the area. So in April she will stay with her parents for three weeks and commute 45 minutes each way to a hospital in Maryville. Needless to say, neither one of us are thrilled about the situation.

On a secondary note, she pays Samford for this. Her employer can work her as many hours as they want, because the school does not care. Yes, Samford (a Christian affiliate university) had their administrators tell the class, “we don’t care how much or how many hours they work you, so don’t complain to us about it.” They also said, “we don’t care if you are married or if you have kids, we will place you where we want. The only exceptions are for single mothers.” Thank you Samford for showing the brotherly love.

I realize this is good experience but something is wrong. She is paying Samford for an education, and they are going to send her out each year for a month to work at no cost. Then her fourth year, she will work full time and pay Samford to do it.

I realize many in education programs have the same problems. They go to college for four years and then they spend a year interning while getting their masters. Let’s go ahead and really define intern.

Intern – One who works for no or minimal wages at his/her employers expense.

I interned through most of college. Granted I always got paid, not always a lot, but paid for my work. However, a lot of people I know interned for free because you had to have so many hours to graduate. You get a lot of experience, but if you aren’t getting compensated for your time, eventually morale begins to vanquish.

And for me, where did interning really get me. I had some of the best internships in the area. I had my own cubicle in the UT athletic office. Yet, I couldn’t find a job within the city in my field. I found a job all right, but it’s about the farthest thing from my major as you could get. Oh well, I’d go back and make minimum wage if I could pay my bills and have all that time off again. I’m sure Jen wouldn’t go for that, seeing as how we’ve both become accustomed to eating regularly.

There is one intern theory that disproves my argument. Jen is interning at Walgreens this summer and is almost making what I am as an intern. This is not a school internship though, but nonetheless, we might actually get to go back to Disneyworld this summer.


Here are some random pics from the race I ran with my dad, and my birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory.