The Issue of Internships - Essay Example

The Internships The purpose of this paper is to debate on the issue of internships as to whether it exploits the or they provide an opportunity for the students to gain responsibility and experience by taking only one side. Internship has been defined as a formal or official program that provides practical experience for the beginners in a given profession or occupation. The paper therefore supports internship since it enables young professionals to put in to practice their learned skills. However, the Internships can either be paid or not paid but the most important thing is that the newly trained individual is given the opportunity to exercise the personal skills. To support the idea of unpaid internships, various references from the essay and a book have been used. From the essay of “No pay? Many interns say, `No problem” it has been indicated that the absence of intern pay does not seem to dissuade the students from making application to the internships especially those that offer personal skills as well as gaining experience. Surprisingly, many paid partnerships usually do not attract many candidates because intern duties and location plays a big role in attracting the students to apply (Helperin 588). From the book of `The Successful Internship: Personal, Professional and Civil Development` by H. Fredrick Sweitzer and Mary A. King the benefits of internship were discussed. H. Fredrick Sweitzer who was a professor Humans Services at the Hartford University had placed and supervised the undergraduates for a period of twenty years and also developed the aspect of internship seminar at the Hartford University. Through the efforts of the professor, the successful internship as a facilitator to three important aspects of development was illustrated; the civic, professional and personal (Sweitzer 5).In his book, he stated that one can enter internship from different points when developing these three categories. Internship acts as an opportunity for emotional and intellectual development that is significant in an individual life. The ability to look at given information critically, think creatively and have a look at serious issues from the multiple points of view can be acquired through internship. The internship can as well act as a powerful catalyst for individual growth and manufacturing supervisors that are qualified. Under the professional development, some of the students usually enter the internship primarily for exploration of career (Sweitzer 5). Such students may be studying the traditional arts liberal discipline such as psychology or sociology and therefore may be eager to know how those disciplines are put in to practice. For some students, internship is taken to be an academic experience that is cumulating in a sequenced and highly structured set of experiences thus giving them a chance to apply what they have learned. In addition, certain students observes the internship as a clear chance to take up the next step through acquiring more knowledge, skills, developing attitudes and developing professional values. Internship provides an opportunity for one to understand the world of work in a better way as well as assisting different individuals to improve on their way of socializing in to the norms and values of profession (Sweitzer 6). The professor went on reflecting on the Civic professionalism where he indicated that a large number of students perceive internship as a way of learning the actual way of doing something in their respective academic majors, in curiosity or in their areas of interest (Sweitzer 6).He affirmed that there are various courses that enabled certain skills to develop as a result of internship; therefore internship provides a change for testing and developing the acquired skills among the students. Out of the experience in the internship personal goals can easily be achieved. The aspect of becoming a professional or learning how to become a professional requires a lot of work to be done more that acquiring new skills therefore, internship can help an individual through boosting ( Sweitzer 7). According to the professor`s point of view, a profession is mainly based on solid and the evolving theory that it is normally referred to in certain situations as the evidence based practice. For the students who are undertaking helping professions, they are likely to acquire the value of sympathy through internship thus becoming better citizens in future. Other professional values that the students are likely to adopt are; integrity, a belief in change and fairness. According to professor Fredrick, the internships are sometimes described as a period when theory is applied to the real life settings thus developing a belief of an emerging relationship between the practice and theory to be more complex ( Sweitzer 7). Professor Fredrick also expressed the internship to have the ability of modifying an individual to become a Civic Professional. Through Civic Professionalism, an individual is able to embrace and understand the human content of work. This context includes the diverse cultures, political dynamics, communities and families. A civic professional is able to understand public reliance of the profession. Moreover, the internship provides a chance for the learner to know more about social obligations of a given profession and how they are carried out at the internship site. The aspect of acquiring necessary knowledge and skills through practice has been well appreciated by the service-learning movement and has been applied in various learning outcomes (Sweitzer 8). Therefore the internship has same potential and is an intensive form of the apprenticeship. Furthermore, internship is not only an intellectual experience but also a human experience that is full of wonderful things that individuals bring to their struggles and interactions. With reference from the essay of “No pay? Many inters say, `No problem”, it is observed that the unpaid internships were much more beneficiary since they were practical and real world experience. Therefore the unpaid internships are worth as it was said by Brittany Harris, a college student in Chicago. This is because after passing through the internships, he was able to look for a full-time job as journalist in one of the broadcasting organizations. During his period in one of the internships, the work of his hands enabled the company to offer him a direct employment while still learning (Helperin 590). From the essay of “Take this essay and shove it,” Anya Kamenetz affirms that the internships are simulation and therefore should not offer payments (Kamenetz 584). In conclusion, internships should be adopted by students because they tend to get a lot of benefits from them as discussed in the paper. Through internships, students are able to apply their acquired skills thus becoming better professionals in their respective areas of profession. Students are also able to learn new skills from the organization and get a direct employment in the same organization after the internship period. Finally, internships are varied in the market thus the students who are fresh from undertaking a given profession are able to get an attachment so as to improve on their personal skills as well as testing their learned skills. Works cited Halperin Jennifer. "No Pay? Many Interns Say No Problem." (588-590). Kamenetz Anya. “Take this Internship and Shove It." (583-585). Sweitzer, H F, and Mary A. King. The Successful Internship: Personal, Professional, and Civic Development. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2009. Print. Read More