So... I'm an Exploiter Now?

Guilty as Charged of Exploiting Homeschoolers

John Stossel Writes [click to read] in the Washington Examiner:

"Do you employ unpaid student interns - college students who work in exchange for on-the-job training?

If so, President Obama's Labor Department says that you're an exploiter. The government says an internship is OK only if it meets six criteria, among them that the employer must get "no immediate advantage" from the intern's activities. In fact, the employer's work "may be impeded."

I've 'exploited' a few high school students over my career. They've had a chance to work on models I've built for names you'd recognize in the architectural world. I wonder though if they feel 'exploited' when they land good jobs in a bad economy using me as a reference?


A fifteen year old home schooler
helped me landscape this model.

I guess I'll ask the young man who helped me build the existing structures in this model. He's pretty busy though as he just took a job with a design firm in North Carolina. He absolutely loves it! Many of his friends are still looking for work. Who can really say if the 'exploitation' of him helped him later in the job market?

Mike has More Thoughts [click to read] on unpaid internships.