Take This Internship and Shove It by Anya Kamenetz

882 Words2 Pages

“Take This Internship and Shove It” by Anya Kamenetz is about the declining state of jobs for new college graduates or current college students. Anya Kamenetz is attempting to prove that internships, particularly unpaid internships, are part of the problem of new graduates finding employment in their field of study. Kamenetz is also trying to prove internships are harmful to the job market in general. Kamenetz describes internships as “fake jobs” and states internships cause low wages and decline in young workers being part of a union. When an employer can hire someone for free he or she is more likely to do so instead of spending company money on a paid employee. Employers get away with these practices because with an already troubling job market, new graduates worry about finding jobs in their field. Colleges are either requiring students to participate in an internship to graduate or are pushing that internships are the gateway to careers. Kamenetz points out that two-thirds of college students are receiving loans to help pay for their education and it is harmful to the individual to work for free when that time is essential to make money to pay for living and school expenses. Kamenetz claims many things in her article. There are the claims of fact such as “84 percent of college students in April planned to complete at least one internship before graduating.” Other claims of fact are “internships promote over-identification with employers” and “…an influx of unpaid graduates kept wages down and patched up the gaps left by job cuts” (Kamenetz). With young workers being used to fill jobs that were previously cut only benefits the employer and ultimately harms the job market and the individual. Most of this article ... ... middle of paper ... ...f study as an extended learning opportunity. These hands on learning experiences are either paid; meaning compensation is given, or unpaid; meaning the intern is working for free. What Kamenetz leaves out in her article is that some careers require an internship. Careers in the medical field, such as nurses and doctors, usually have to complete an internship to get their license to practice medicine. Even psychologists have to serve a certain amount of time as an intern. Would a doctor be trustworthy is he or she never had any supervised hands on practice? Even if a certain career path didn’t require an internship, it could possibly help someone receive a job and become a better an employee in the long run. Works Cited Kamenetz, Anya. DIYU. 2014. Blog. 7 February 2014. —. "Take This Internship and Shove It." The Structure of Argument 2012: 191-193. Essay.

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