Stossel defends child labor and working for free

[EVT1]

He loves his unpaid interns- and claims no benefit- yet is proud that some of them have went on to be huge successes. 

Maybe McDonalds should adopt the 'unpaid intern' scheme- where we let you make fries for a year for free

I liked Stossel until tonight's show.  He went with the old meme that  'government does not create jobs'

What he leaves out is taxes pay for government jobs- and there are a hell of a lot more of them than any private company- and secondly the amount of private companies that only exist because of the government as a customer is a shitload.  Start with Cheney and his criminal bunch.

www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2015/04/29/jobs

[Phoenix84]

I haven't seen the piece, but I'm not a big fan of "unpaid internships" myself. It leaves things open to abuse by unscrupulous individuals.

I can see something working in specific circumstances, like a high school or college student shadowing a professional for a couple of days just to see if they're interested in the career. But not do actual work. Or having kids do some work for the family business.  But if you do work, you should get paid.

[Tennesseer]

May 1, 2015 23:48:46 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

He loves his unpaid interns- and claims no benefit- yet is proud that some of them have went on to be huge successes. 

Maybe McDonalds should adopt the 'unpaid intern' scheme- where we let you make fries for a year for free

I liked Stossel until tonight's show.  He went with the old meme that  'government does not create jobs'

What he leaves out is taxes pay for government jobs- and there are a hell of a lot more of them than any private company- and secondly the amount of private companies that only exist because of the government as a customer is a shitload.  Start with Cheney and his criminal bunch.

Unpaid Interns Are Exploited?


?

[EVT1]

[Ombud]

I read your links but it doesn't support your premise that he is in favor of child labor. You must have posted the wrong links. I was an unpaid intern ... great experience. Another great way to get a feel for a career is volunteering like in a hospital or PAC and that isn't promoted enough IMHO

[Deleted]

Student teachers are unpaid interns. Worse, they pay their school (not the school where they do their student teaching) for the privilege of being an unpaid intern.

On the other hand, they don't really provide a real service. The classroom teacher is fully capable of teaching his/her class.  He/she must ok all lesson plans.  That teacher cannot leave the student teacher alone with the students.  If the classroom teacher is absent, a substitute must be hired.  The student teacher might grade papers, but the classroom teacher must assign and be able to defend grades. The classroom teacher is the only one that can contact parents. The classroom teacher will be the one sued if a student teacher violates a student's IEP, etc.  Classroom teachers are also accountable for student test scores.

So no wonder that student teachers aren't paid.  The classroom teacher doesn't get paid either for supervising them.  It is actually hard to persuade many classroom teachers to take student teachers.  It doesn't lessen the workload in a real sense.   We take them because that's the only way to get new teachers into the profession. 

I think in other professions the interns do actual work.  Not student teachers . . .   Instead, they increase the classroom teacher's workload.

[zibazinski]

When I did my student teaching my mentor teacher was never there. He was off teaching drivers Ed. I didn't expect him to be there either. The only time he showed up was when my supervising teacher came to observe me.

[EVT1]

May 4, 2015 6:37:23 GMT -5 Ombud said:

I read your links but it doesn't support your premise that he is in favor of child labor. You must have posted the wrong links. I was an unpaid intern ... great experience. Another great way to get a feel for a career is volunteering like in a hospital or PAC and that isn't promoted enough IMHO

He is in favor of the government not regulating child labor or wages.  As long as it isn't slavery he is good with it.

We already went down that road and I see his position as returning to it- hardcore Libertarians seem to think that companies and people will do the right thing without government intervention and history says otherwise.

[Ombud]

EVT1, not baiting you but still don't see where he says they should be exempt from the minimum wage or from the training wage based on a certain percentage below the minimum wage for a set time.

[The Captain]

May 4, 2015 18:26:19 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Student teachers are unpaid interns. Worse, they pay their school (not the school where they do their student teaching) for the privilege of being an unpaid intern.

On the other hand, they don't really provide a real service. The classroom teacher is fully capable of teaching his/her class.  He/she must ok all lesson plans.  That teacher cannot leave the student teacher alone with the students.  If the classroom teacher is absent, a substitute must be hired.  The student teacher might grade papers, but the classroom teacher must assign and be able to defend grades. The classroom teacher is the only one that can contact parents. The classroom teacher will be the one sued if a student teacher violates a student's IEP, etc.  Classroom teachers are also accountable for student test scores.

So no wonder that student teachers aren't paid.  The classroom teacher doesn't get paid either for supervising them.  It is actually hard to persuade many classroom teachers to take student teachers.  It doesn't lessen the workload in a real sense.   We take them because that's the only way to get new teachers into the profession. 

I think in other professions the interns do actual work.  Not student teachers . . .   Instead, they increase the classroom teacher's workload.

I'm in tax. When I start an intern we have to invest a LOT of time training them. For about the first 2-3 months I actually consider them resource negative or neutral at best.

Once the learning curve kicks in, though, they do become productive and add real value.  That's why I don't do summer only internships, you have to be willing to work at least part time (no less than 15 hours) during the school year.  I've had interns work FT and carry a full class load as well.  I'm very flexible with scheduling.

My last two interns were hired by big 4 upon graduation.  One made senior after one year.  Experience in my particular industry is very valuable and yes, I could get interns to work for free.

I don't, instead we pay them $15-18/hour. I think that's actually a pretty good wage for what we offer. Big 4 are paying $25/hr so I'm competing with them for the best. BUT big 4 also use this as a means to pre-screen potential new hires. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of a pipeline.

[wvugurl26]

Unpaid interns was a suggestion from HQ when we were under a hiring freeze. I'm not sure if anyone hired some. We had a pharmacy intern one summer. I'm not sure what exactly he did. I think we'd be better off to just hire a pharmacist but they won't do that. The same people also hired a physician/lawyer who I swear has never practiced a day in either discipline.

[Deleted]

May 4, 2015 20:14:45 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

When I did my student teaching my mentor teacher was never there. He was off teaching drivers Ed. I didn't expect him to be there either. The only time he showed up was when my supervising teacher came to observe me.

That was the way it used to be.  The colleges and universities changed the procedure because of that.  The classroom teacher now has to stay in the room.  Of course, it does give you time to grade papers while he/she "teaches."

[zibazinski]

There is that. Damn, I'm old.