Music Therapists Unite...Again!

There are two different conversations going on right now on Music Therapists Unite. (Now, I know, if this group causes me so much grief, why do I stay? I have no answer...) The first is a discussion about the purpose of the group and how one person wants everyone to comply to a specific vision. The second is about unpaid internships.

I have opinions about each one of these topics, and I am hesitant about sharing them on Music Therapists Unite because I don't want to get sucked into the morass of opinions, information, and misinformation.

First of all, I agree that many of the posts on Music Therapists Unite appear to be ways to get others to do the work instead of taking a couple of seconds to find out the information that is available at our fingertips. I think this is a generational thing. Let me slip into my codger role here. "Kids today just don't know how easy they have it. In my day, you had to actually go to the library, wade through a card catalog, find a book in the shelves (shudder), and then use CHANGE - actual coins - in order to make an educational copy of such information. When I think of the hours of research, practice, and photocopying that I have done. Kids today have it easy." 

I will refrain from the full version of this rant which includes information on educational philosophy and political ravings about the state of education these days, but, let me tell you, it's quite a rant - I can even start to get red and sweaty in the middle of it!

Unpaid internships. Ugh. This is a discussion that is near and dear to my heart. I wish that every intern could be paid what they are worth during their internship, but the reality is that most internships in human services are not paid. There are a few that are, but most are not. I am an internship director who cannot pay an intern to work at my facility. Many of us do not. There are federal regulations about how and when we have to pay interns. There are many internship programs that have had to close due to these regulations and the complexities that they offer to the facilities. If we insist that everyone be paid during internships, the number of available internships will decrease significantly.

My solution to this problem?

I'm going to win the lottery.

Once I do so, I will endow AMTA for the sole purpose of paying every intern a stipend.

There you go. Now, I should probably go buy a lottery ticket...

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