Video: Hidden Education Issues Raised In HBO's "Girls"

In a perfect world one of the New York City 20somethings on HBO's new show, "Girls," would be a TFA corps member or Teaching Fellow or even a regular first-year teacher. Instead, they're interns, gallery assistants, and other random things.  But that doesn't mean the show -- the pilot is free to watch (HBO is desperate) doesn't have something to say about education.  There's the de rigeur mention of crushing student loan debt.  There's some tasty discussion of unpaid internships, which as many have noted tend to exacerbate inequities.  And the show, cast with the offspring of famous parents, itself raises issues of talent versus opportunity. So there.  Now you can watch the show at work and tell yourself it's part of your job.   

Comments

[Sarah]

I’d like to think unpaid internships are on their way out, to speak of them for a minute. I doubt it’ll ever be made a law... but I like to keep telling myself humanity is decent. I think all internships in the area where I live are paid, even if it's only by covering the cost of a college or vocational education in lieu of a paycheck, so I wouldn’t know much about the actual issue, and maybe there is indeed hope, if what I’ve seen is mirrored across the US by now.