Internship Experience: Challenges and Ethical Insights

The internship was very rewarding physically and mentally. I worked hard in extreme conditions I had never expected, and I learned new laboratory techniques and used equipment I have only read about. Aerial missions were always a treat; who doesn 't want to check the weekly schedule to see helicopter duty assigned? The most important aspects of my internship had little to do with science, however. My internship allowed me to observe county employees and leaders from a position in which I could observe without altering behavior. Due to my role as an intern, and the underlying feeling that interns are inconsequential, I was able to see and hear many interesting things that have forced me to examine my personal ethics code and my assumptions

As I learned more in classes, I became able to see specific traits and qualities in the workers around me, and that provided the distance I needed to continue my work there. Ethical development is interesting because there is always opportunity to improve. Similar ethical development is the common factor among people I “get.” It 's very exciting to have a name for the numerous, deeply personal beliefs valued among a group of people with apparently nothing in common. Viewing ethical development as a continuum better helps me understand why some people still think and act in ways that are not acceptable to large segments of populations. Lawrence Kohlberg developed a model of moral development in children, and each stage attributes reasoning to behaviors. Regardless of stage, each reflects the dominant mode of decision making for that point in life. The first and second stage have preconventional levels of values. Self-centered for survival purposes, infants and young children make decisions with little thought other than self. They continue to develop. The third and fourth stage, conventional, relates to decisions based on reward or punishment and unspoken social contracts, respectively. Most adults do not exceed the fourth stage. Moral development stalls during the conventional stages. Laws and relationships control this stage of development. Actions

I had worked mainly as a server prior, and though I had watched family in management, I had little insight into office environments. Additionally, most servers with whom I worked were eager and excited to do their jobs. Living wages depended on it. Government positions seem to be filled with less vigor, though I am not sure if the candidates or work environment are responsible. Many servers worked their jobs with no intentions of making it a career, while many working for the government have satisfactorily achieved what they sought. A humbling experience, this internship has prepared me for the next step in life. I am relieved for the transition period between studying and doing, and am doubtlessly convinced I am making the right choices for my