"When someone says the reason they are doing something, internship or otherwise, is because "it looks good on a resume," you have to seriously question what's happened."

Exactly. This problem actually starts as early as high school, where high schoolers feel pressured to join clubs or teams all in the name of a resume for college applications. In both this case and the case of internships that you bring up, the original goal of enjoyment and experience in someone's desired field is starting to fade.

Wow. Well I can't say this is the first type of post I've read from the Millenials generation. Your generation seems like they want to stand the world on its head and maybe it needs that, but good luck. My experience is when you are the new guy on the block, you need to stand in line and follow the chain of command. If you come in with an attitude like "I know what's best, I can do this better than you" then it tends to turn people off. What I'm saying in relation to my field is, you can not get hired in a museum without experience. And how do you get experience? Through an internship. Multiple internships would build up your skill-set portfolio. It shows that coming in you can do x, y and z. In the extremely competitive world of museums, I can't think of another way to do it. And since museums are non-profit, they are not going to have paid internships.

I guess maybe what you'd want me to say to a potential intern is- sorry, hardly anyone with an art history major gets hired into a museum. Turn back now. Go get another major. Because really, someone should have been saying that to them when dozens of them enrolled in art history programs at institutions that do not have good reputations for turning out credible scholars. If they didn't go to a highly rated school, the only way I can think that they would be hired in an entry level job would be to show that they had multiple unpaid internships at a variety of museums or in a variety of departments in a museum.

I have done so many internships. Every academic advisor I have talked to has demanded basically that I do internships. It is all just to put on my resume, but I'm not against it. Although, it would be nice to get some money to do work. In some cases it has helped me gain experience which I liked but the whole point in doing it in the first place is for the resume.

Too many companies these days have "unpaid/low-wage internships" that are really just glorified extra workers: there's nothing to differentiate the internship from what a regular worker might do--no mentoring, no training, no nothing. Some people might see that as a good thing, as it's "real experience," but few internships of that kind these days translate into a good CAREER as opposed to some minimum-wage job.

Good or bad internship, paid or unpaid, every experience offers an opportunity for learning, but it's always more fun walking in and walking out of one if it's somehow related to what you're passionate about.

Companies offering internships shouldn't market themselves as "open to everyone/all majors" because then it's just trickery: you want someone to copy your papers, get your coffee, fold some clothing, and sell your wares, and that's not an internship. There's nothing educational in that deserving of academic credit or really worth putting on a resume, especially not if the person has longer-term goals that require actual "related" experience.

These days, I can't afford the unpaid internships that are out there, even if they're in a field I would otherwise love to work in. It's really not fair, but there's little I can do about it.