welle036

What you described is called a clerkship, law students do them during summers or else for a year after they graduate. I don't know all the details but I think that they basically do the law firm grunt work for free to gain experience and makes themselves more marketable. I have one friend who did an unpaid summer internship/clerkship and one who also did a clerkship for an entire year after he had graduated and taken the bar. I believe he was paid a small salary, I think he had to continue to live off some of his student loans. Both ended up getting really good job offers because of the experience they gained. I don't think clerkships are considered "laughing stocks" a lot of them are quite prestigous and really competitive. Maybe someone with law experience can chime in. Doctors do internships/fellowships.

welle036

[quote=deadstick35;567616]I really like the lawyer reference. You can sub "doctor" in there, too. Doc to patient: "This is Dr. Ipod. He went to med school and is paying me $25,000 to let him perform your surgery. Don't worry, I'll be watching. Oh, and please make payment arrangements with my staff on the way out. The bill will be $10,000 for this procedure."
quote]
This is a joke right? Do you think surgery is taught during the four years of medical school? After medical school look at the hours required for a surgical residency/fellowship with the pay recieved. They basically work for free, performing revenue producing procedures, supervised by attending phyisicans for teaching hospitals.

Wanderlust

How do you guys feel about Continental paying first year FOs 30K with no benefits? What about Delta Connection Academy, charging more for a CPL and CFI than many spend for their ratings, Gulfstream, and a degree? And what about doctors who do their residencies at the same university they got their MD? Surely they're paying for their jobs as well.
Clearly the state of the airline industry is solely the fault of PFTers. It's got nothing to do with ****-poor airline management or "experienced" CFIs willing to fly a 90-seat aircraft for a fast food salary. And a news flash for you folks, this ain't the only industry in the toilet; you'll find these same issues in almost every profession.

rightseater

You have no idea what you're talking about. a few more years in high school would have suited you well

deadstick35

No joke, but the interns (1st year out of med school) and residents (after internship) are non-board certified doctors ARE PAID during this training and not paying the hospital. That is why my example is phrased the way it is.

DeadHead

I think the point here is that after these individuals completed their Clerkship with the law firm and moved on becoming more marketable, experienced, and knowledgeable in the process.

The hole in your point is that after gaining that experience these individuals were expected to leave and start a law career. If these individuals decide to stay on with the law firm after their clerkship for the sole purpose of maintaining employment, I assure you other out of work attorneys would probably consider them a "laughing stock".

If you take two individual pilots, both fully licensed, certified through CFI, and placed one in Gulfstream Academy and the other at Skywest/Republic/Express Jet I think both individual pilots would gain the same amount of experience over their time at their respective companies.

Comparing a Law Student's Clerkship to a Pilot's PFT at Gulfstream is essentially saying that they gain experience to make them better pilots. Paying for a Job at Gulfstream in no way makes a pilot more experienced then a pilot working/starting out at a reputable company.

Both pilots have the same background, qualifications, and experience, only difference is one of those pilots has alot less integrity and self-respect.

boilerpilot

Law clerks also don't pay for the opportunity to be a clerk. It's like paying to do a summer internship. It just doesn't make sense.

Rnav

And to add to that. Law clerks aren't practicing law. They are in the background. They may do research and assist lawyers, but they are not presenting cases. So saying paying to fly up front as an intern is smoke and mirrors. They are paying to be upfront in the right seat where a paying pilot should be. And they are not apologetic about it. People who commit acts who hurt others will rationalize any act to justify their actions...

But I guess the positive note with paying to play is they help pay for the captain's, FA's and rampers salary with the money they paid to be in the right seat. Now that is what I call caring for your fellow crewmembers. I hope they buy you a beer or dinner once and a while.

RemoveB4flght

My intention, and I'm sure deadsticks as well, was not to argue the semantics of the metaphors, which are not a pefectly even comparison... rather to point out that once professionals in other fields pay for their training, they expect to be compensated.

I did an internship when I was in college, and I didn't give them a single dime.

Rnav

agreed, I also did an internship for a government agency and I didn't pay a single dime...