Lesson Plan

Teacher: Carolyn Dunn

Level: ALP 7

Goal: Ss will engage with the new weekly theme – ethics – in a meaningful way and will
practice using the subjunctive form to give advice by creating posters in response to questions
from “The Ethicist”, a New York Times column. Ss will also crystalize their understanding of
Gattaca, a film we watched last week, as well as connect its themes to the new weekly them of
“Ethics”, and will preview Act II of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To…
1. Warm-up, review material from last week and begin thinking about the week’s new
theme – “Ethics” – by pair discussing five prompts in a line interview
2. Correct common errors and peer teach by T eliciting Ss’ corrections of “errors overheard”
during line interviews
3. Activate schema and correctly explain the idea of a “moral dilemma” by viewing a clip
from “The Dark Knight”, discussing it with a partner and participating in a T guided
recap
4. Engage with the theme in a personalized way and practice writing and speaking by
writing their own “moral dilemmas” and discussing them in a cocktail party mingle
format
5. Think critically about the theme and practice reading authentic materials by reading real
questions written in to “The Ethicist” in the NY Times and working in teams to logically
respond to the questions with advice
6. Review the form and use of the subjunctive for giving advice and practice using the
target language by creating “team posters” with ethical advice
7. Review common errors by error correction after the presentations – both oral (overheard
by T) and written (on the posters)
8. Think critically by reading “The Ethicist’s” actual responses to the questions, and
discussing similarities and differences between their advice and the real advice, as well as
the questions “Were you surprised?” and “Why do you think your advice and the
Ethicist’s advice was the same or different?” (Ss will likely read the “real” responses at
home and do the discussion in the next class as a warm-up)
9. Make predictions about Act II of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by discussing quotes and vocab
from Act II

Theme: Ethics

Extensions: Students will read the “real” responses to “The Ethicist” questions at home and think
about any similarities and differences between their advice and the advice in the newspaper, with
a follow-up class discussion about why those differences may exist (differences in culture,
personal experience, age, etc.)

Aim/Skill/Microskill Activity/Procedure/Stage Interaction Time

Preview the Day’s Announcements/Attendance/Admin T-Ss ***ALL TIMES

ARE SUBJECT
Lesson and Clarify TO
Questions from Last T presents “Goals and Agendas” from website ADJUSTMENT
Week ****
T goes over questions from Friday’s EXIT
TICKETS 5 min
maximum
-Skimming and Scanning (as vocab)
“Do you read fast or slow?” “Which one is for
the main idea? Which one is for specific
information?”
-Sensationalized
T shows photos from the NY Times and NY
Post on projector and elicits which one is
“sensationalized.” T elicits definition of
“sensationalized.” T clarifies and checks
comprehension by asking for the purpose of
the Times (inform, entertain or persuade) and
the Post (inform, entertain or persuade). T
asks which newspaper is more reliable.

Activity #1 Pre-Stage: T-Ss Pre and During

Ask the students at the “teams” on the right to Stages:
Warm-Up and form a line, and then “teams” on the left to 10-15 mins
Review – Line form a line, facing each other. Explain that you
Interviews are going to ask them to discuss a question. (finish by
They’ll need to remember their partner’s 10:30)
(Speaking and answer! You will ask them about it.
Listening Focus)
During Stage: S-S
Pose a question to the pairs (display on the
screen):
1. What did you do last weekend?
Give them 2 minutes to discuss. When time’s
up, tell them to keep that information in mind
for later. Switch partner and pose another
question.
2. Why did you come to NY? What
surprised you most when you came
here?
3. What do you miss the most from
home?
4. What are some news stories you know
about? Do you remember any from
AM NY or the NY Times?
5. What are some examples of ethical
issues or moral dilemmas? What is
your opinion on these issues or
problems?

T monitors throughout, taking note of any Post Stage

errors. Including Error
 Correction:
Post-Stage: Ss-Ss
Students return to their teams and discuss for 3 3 mins team
minutes. T instructs Ss to discuss for each discuss/5 mins
prompt; the teams will be called on to group share
volunteer some information for each prompt. plus error
T monitors, taking note of any errors. correction

T asks for a volunteer from each team to give S-Ss (Finish by

some information on each prompt and asks a T-Ss 10:40)
couple of follow-up questions. T corrects
speaking errors as necessary.

T goes over “overheard errors” on the T-Ss

projector.

Tangible Outcome – Error correction (as

needed) written on the overhead

Teacher / Peer Feedback – Peer to peer

interaction provides informal feedback; T error
correction (orally during class share and
“overheard” errors on overhead)

Activity #2 – Schema Pre-Stage: T-Ss 15 mins max

Activation – The T provides background information and pre- total
Joker teaches vocab from the clip using photos on
the projector (Finish by
(Listening Focus – 10:50/10:55)
Listening for Main Ss pair discuss- make listening predictions: S-S
Ideas and Making What do you think the “moral dilemma” in this
Connections to clip will be?
Previous
Information) During Stage: S
Ss watch the clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=K4GAQtGtd_0

Post-Stage: Ss-Ss
Ss check their predictions with their teams.
Brief class share. T ensures that the meaning
of “moral dilemma” is clear by asking
comprehension checking questions:

“Could people disagree about the right thing to T-Ss

do?”

“Is it a difficult choice?”

Teacher / Peer Feedback – Peer to peer

interaction provides informal feedback; T
 comprehension checking questions about the
meaning of “moral dilemma”

Activity #3 – Cocktail Pre-Stage: T-S 15 mins total

Party Mingle – Moral T shows examples of real-life “moral
Dilemma Discussion dilemmas” on the projector. T elicits more (Finish by
Questions from the Ss. 11:05/11:10)

(Writing and Ss write “moral dilemmas” (ideally from their S

Speaking/Listening own life experiences) on their index cards. T
Focus) assists as necessary.

T collects cards and models “cocktail party T-S

mingle” with a S: find a partner, discuss both
questions, ask follow-up questions, change
cards, change partners.

T displays “follow-up questions” on the

projector to remind Ss to ask them

During Stage:
Ss mingle and discuss. T monitors and assists, S-S
taking note of speaking errors.

Post-Stage:
Brief class share; “overheard” error correction; T-S
T collects cards and uses them as input for
written error correction (likely in the next class
or after the break) and to confirm Ss ‘
understanding of “moral dilemma”

Tangible Outcome – Error correction (as

needed) written on the overhead; questions on
index cards

Teacher / Peer Feedback – Peer to peer

interaction provides informal feedback; T error
correction and review of index cards for
language errors and content misunderstandings

Activity #4 Pre-Stage: 20 mins to

The Ethicist T-S read, discuss
T displays a question and answer from an and prepare
(Critical Thinking advice column on the overhead, and elicits the posters
Focus – Reading, form and use of the subjunctive for giving
Listening/Speaking advice. (Finish by
and Presenting in 11:30 – then
Front of the Class) T shows a copy of the NY Times and explains take break until
that “The Ethicist” is a column in the Times. T 11:50)
 elicits:
Each group
“What do you think “ethicist” means?” presents 5
minutes plus
As needed, T prompts “what is the root word?” discussion and
“what part of speech is it?” “is it a person, S error correction
place or thing?”
40 mins total
T asks, “What do you think this column is
about?” (Finish by
Ss-Ss 12:30)
T passes out four different questions from the
Ethicist to the four teams. Ss read individually
(vocabulary is glossed) and T monitors and Ss-Ss
assists.

Ss discuss the question in teams.

During Stage:
Teams discuss the question and think of 5
pieces of advice for the person.

Teams make posters with the advice on them, S-Ss-T

using the subjunctive form.

T monitors and assists, taking note of any S-T

errors.

Post-Stage:
Each team has 5 minutes to summarize the S
problem and present their advice to the class. Ss-Ss

T notes speaking errors and any written errors

on the poster for each team. T writes them on
the projector and elicits corrections.

At home, teams read the “real” answers and

take notes of similarities and differences, and
prepare to discuss those similarities and
differences and reasons for them to start off
class on Thursday.

Tangible Outcome – Error correction (as

needed) written on the overhead; team posters

Teacher / Peer Feedback – Peer to peer

interaction provides informal feedback; T error
correction

Activity #5 – Gattaca Pre-Stage: S 15 mins total

Wrap Up Ss write down any “open questions” on the
movie “Gattaca”, which we watched last week, (Finish by
on index cards. T collects and distributes them 12:45)
to teams.

During Stage: Ss-Ss

Teams discuss the questions. T monitors and
assists, taking note of any errors.

Post-Stage:
Class share. T collects cards and uses them to S-T
review any written errors in the next class.

Tangible Outcome – Error correction (as

needed) written on the projector; written
question cards; error correction from written
question cards (next class)

Teacher / Peer Feedback – Peer to peer

interaction provides informal feedback; T error
correction (orally during class share and
“overheard” and written errors on projector)

Activity #6 – Cat on a Pre-Stage: S-S 15 mins total

Hot Tin Roof Preview Ss work in pairs to “guess” the answers to a
vocabulary worksheet, using quotations from (Finish by
Act II of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” which 1:00)
students will read for Friday. T goes over any
questions.

During Stage: S-S

Teams discuss:
Based on these sentences from Act II and what
you have already read in Act I, what are some
predictions you can make about Act II?

Post-Stage: S-T
Class share.

Tangible Outcome – Error correction (as

needed) written on the projector; completed
vocabulary worksheets

Teacher / Peer Feedback – Peer to peer

interaction provides informal feedback; T error
correction

Wrap-up EXIT TICKETS – Students complete “Exit 5 min

Tickets”- anonymous cards with one thing
 they learned, one thing they are still confused
about and any additional feedback/comments

T directs Ss to the projector for the evening’s

homework assignment – depending on timing
of the class, this will likely be reading the
“real” responses to the ethical problems and
taking notes on similarities and differences,
along with potential reasons for those
similarities and differences

Lesson Evaluation Procedures: Exit Tickets;

continuous in-class monitoring and adjusting
of the lesson based on student needs

Materials: Class notes on Google Drive, including instructions, photos, vocabulary and links to
the “Dark Knight” clip; notebook for writing down overheard errors; index cards; copy of the NY
Times; copies of problems from “The Ethicist” with vocabulary glossed; copies of answers from
“The Ethicist”; easel pad and markers for Ss to make posters with advice; “Gattaca” materials
packet and DVD; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof materials packet and book
The Ethicist – Long Distance Relationships1

I have been with my boyfriend for several years, and I love him very much. We
each decided to study abroad for the spring semester of our junior year and
have found ourselves on opposite ends of the globe. We will be apart for almost
six months, with only intermittent access to the phone and Internet. Before
we left, we agreed that it would be best to temporarily open our
relationship. We wanted to fully enjoy our respective experiences and take the
opportunity to explore being with other people. We decided that we would not
discuss our flings with each other, at least until we returned. We did this, I
believe, with the implicit assumption that we would not fall in love with anyone
else.

Although I was the anxious one before we left, I have found myself in a bit of a
sticky situation. I am falling for a woman I met on my study-abroad program. I
know that this is not just a casual affair and that I am developing real feelings
for this woman. I feel as though I am betraying my boyfriend, and I am sure he
would feel the same, despite the fact that I am not technically breaking the rules
of our relationship. Communication is sketchy, and the prospect of talking to
my boyfriend about this while the signal comes and goes is a little horrifying. I
know that this information would hurt him deeply and that his ability to enjoy
the remainder of his semester might be diminished. At the same time, I know
that this is not what he had in mind when we agreed to an open relationship,
and I feel as though I am deceiving him every time we talk. Should I tell him
what is going on? Name Withheld

abroad – in another country

intermittent access – limited access
open our relationship – allow each other to date other people; have “flings”
or casual relationships without love
diminished – lessened
deceiving – not being honest with him

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/magazine/must-i-tell-my-long-distance-
boyfriend-i-met-someone-else.html
The Ethicist –Bargaining in Africa1

Having lived in Cameroon for two years and in Ghana for one year, I know that
you bargain for most purchases in those countries. I learned that most items
have no “real price” and that bargaining is, at its heart, at least as much a
social interaction as an economic interaction. Soon I became quite good at
getting a low price, although not as good as the locals. When American friends
visited, they were appalled at my driving a hard bargain, thinking I was
unethical because of my being (relatively) quite wealthy and not willing to
share my wealth with someone who was obviously quite poor. Was I being
unethical? Edwin Kay

bargain – negotiate a price; decide on a price together

appalled – shocked; disgusted

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/magazine/is-it-ok-to-get-a-dog-from-a-
breeder-not-a-shelter.html
The Ethicist –Law School is a Bad Investment1

I’m applying to law school. I’m sure there are many schools that could provide
me with a decent education; I’m less confident that a degree from some
institutions will get me a job. In fact, some schools, while charging
outrageously high tuition, place fewer than half of their recent graduates in
long-term, full-time legal positions. Is it moral for schools like these to keep
enrolling students and collecting tuition dollars knowing that their product is a
risky (or outright bad) investment? MATTHEW DREILING, NEW YORK

decent – good
outrageously high – very high

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/so-sue-me.html
The Ethicist –Learning the Local Language 1

I moved to the Netherlands two years ago. I don’t plan to stay more than five
years and have been wavering about whether I should commit to learning the
language. The problem is that Dutch is a difficult language that’s useless outside
the country, and virtually everyone here speaks great English. On the other
hand, I feel there’s some obligation to assimilate when living in a foreign
country. What is my obligation as a foreigner? NAME WITHHELD, THE
NETHERLANDS

wavering – going back and forth on a decision

obligation – duty

assimilate – to become more like the local people

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/so-sue-me.html
The Ethicist – AirBnB1

I just discovered that my upstairs neighbors in my very small co-op of five units
are renting their apartment on Airbnb. I only discovered this when my partner
recognized a guy from the neighborhood in our stairwell and asked if he was a
friend of the neighbors’. He said that he wasn’t; his mother is in town and has
been renting the apartment through Airbnb rather than staying in a hotel.

Upon finding their actual listing on the site, I learned that they are renting the
apartment for nearly $400 a night and have had at least six renters based on
the reviews on their page. They didn’t alert anyone in the building that they
were doing this, and it violates our co-op’s rules. I believe it also violates New
York City law, but I’m a little vague on that.

My real issue is that there are strangers in our building, and it makes me feel
unsafe. My partner says that no one who can afford their price would do
anything damaging to us or the building and thinks I’m crazy for being
annoyed with them. Obviously I’m also jealous of their extra income: Who
wouldn’t want an extra thousand dollars (at least!) a month?

How do I confront this? Do I confront it at all? I don’t necessarily want to get

them evicted, but I do want them to know they are violating my trust and not
being good neighbors. Thoughts? C.S., Brooklyn

co-op – an apartment that is owned through shares in a company

evicted – thrown out of an apartment

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/should-a-friend-be-told-the-
real-reason-he-didnt-get-the-job.html
The Ethicist –Work Inequality1

I am a filmmaker and recently graduated from a university. I was shocked

when, by a stroke of good luck, hard work and fortunate timing, I managed to
get myself booked onto a huge advertising job. The work was extremely
fulfilling, fast-paced and well paid.

Despite this, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the company I was working for, a
giant tech company, was using me to sell a product that is made by employees
who make very low wages and work very long hours. Not only did I feel bad for
my role in pushing products onto consumers, but worse, I felt very guilty
knowing that the extremely high figure I was being paid for a week’s work
might be two years’ worth of work for the people who made the things I was
selling. At the same time, this job fell from the sky at a time of extreme financial
need, and I really enjoyed it.

My question is: How can I navigate this situation in the future? I enjoy the fast
pace of advertising and the creative opportunities it brings, but I am acutely
aware that I am becoming part of the inequality machine every time I
accept work like this. Name Withheld

inequality machine – the system of companies, governments and society that

causes some people to be poorer than others for unfair reasons

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/should-a-friend-be-told-the-
real-reason-he-didnt-get-the-job.html
The Ethicist –Unpaid Internships1

I took an unpaid internship that I figured would give me experience and help
me land somewhere in six months. Instead I’m picking up coffee and dry
cleaning and performing other tasks that the company would otherwise have to
pay someone for. I know this is the status quo for internships, but it violates
the law, and it feels deeply unethical. Taking legal recourse would hurt my
career prospects. Is there anything I can demand of this company in exchange
for my slave labor? NAME WITHHELD, NEW YORK

unpaid internship – a job at a company done by a college student to get

experience, not to be paid. These jobs are often necessary for getting jobs in
magazines, fashion companies and entertainment companies

status quo – the standard practice

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/the-internship-rip-off.html
The Ethicist – Long Distance Relationships1

ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:

Commitments have rewards. They can keep you out of situations

like the one you’ve fallen into. Agreeing to allow a relationship to be
“open” for a time carries risks. If you’d thought of yourself as your
boyfriend’s exclusive partner, you might not have entered into this new
relationship. By your account, you have kept to the letter of your
understanding but breached the spirit. Unless you’ve decided that you
are going to return to your boyfriend, you’re keeping from him a
central fact about your relationship.

Still, what’s done is done. Like it or not, your boyfriend took this risk in
making the agreement with you. An affair, once started, is not fully
under your control. Falling in love isn’t exactly a choice. You say you’re
worried about disturbing the rest of his semester; could that be an
excuse? Once he knows you’re not coming back to him, he can mourn
and move on. If real-time communication isn’t good enough for a
proper discussion, why don’t you send him a message that explains (as
you have to me) and apologizes (as you probably should)? Apologies
express regret; they don’t always accept guilt. So you could do this
even if you thought you had done nothing wrong.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/magazine/must-i-tell-my-long-distance-
boyfriend-i-met-someone-else.html
The Ethicist –Bargaining in Africa1

ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:

Unlike you, I’ve never lived in Cameroon. But I spent much of my

childhood and early adulthood in Ghana, and everyone I know there
would have been puzzled by the attitude of your American friends.
Bargaining is how prices are set, and no sane seller starts with the
price she wants to get. Indeed, trade is enlivened, in part, by the fact
that each sale is a negotiation. Life would be as dull as a supermarket
checkout line otherwise. It’s also a little condescending to think that
people will take a price that they think exploitative. As Adam Smith
pointed out long ago, when two people come together in the market
and agree on a price, without coercion, deception or the pressure of
necessity, both end up better off. The seller gets the money she wanted
and hands over the goods she was trying to unload; the buyer acquires
the goods she desired for a price she was willing to pay. Against the
right background, market exchanges improve things for everybody.
Bargain away!

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/magazine/is-it-ok-to-get-a-dog-from-a-
breeder-not-a-shelter.html
The Ethicist –Law School is a Bad Investment1

ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:

You’re looking at this problem through a peculiar lens. You’re

philosophically positioning law schools as extensions of the service
economy: you believe they are promising a symbiotic exchange for
both parties, where your investment of time and tuition will be
mechanically rewarded with a job you desire (and if that doesn’t
happen, the school is acting in bad faith). Your argument also infers a
somewhat sinister self-awareness from the schools themselves — it
suggests that they know their graduates will be uncompetitive but
pretend otherwise to coerce new students into overpayment.

If your query were simply “Is all college tuition in America

unreasonably expensive?” my answer might be different. But your
particular question is performance-based; you want to know if it’s
unethical for colleges whose students are less successful in the job
market to demand the same unreasonable tuition as the ones whose
graduates perform well. And it’s not unethical — it’s just fiscally
unfortunate. Obviously, the best thing any law school could do for its
reputation is graduate people who become successful. These schools
are motivated to do so; if they continually fail at that goal, they will not
attract the best applicants, and the failure will perpetuate itself. But
their principal ethical responsibility is to educate law students to the
best of that institution’s ability, which isn’t inherently tied to how
easily those graduates become gainfully employed. That responsibility
is mostly yours.

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The Ethicist –Learning the Local Language 1

ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:

Assimilation is not an ethical responsibility. You retain the right to

what language you speak and what culture you identify with. That said,
any problem you encounter with the language barrier is totally on your
shoulders; certainly, no Dutch-speaking resident of the Netherlands
has to assimilate to your unwillingness to understand the nuances of a
country to which you willingly relocated.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/so-sue-me.html
The Ethicist – AirBnB1

ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:

Your co-op has rules. Your neighbors are violating them to their
financial advantage. If they want a change in the rules, they should ask
for a change. Putting your anxiety and envy to one side, the real issue
here is that your upstairs neighbors are not doing their part in a
common enterprise based on a shared understanding. Of course, you
have to figure out how to handle this. Even if affluent short-term
renters aren’t dangerous, angry neighbors can be. No doubt a printout
of the Airbnb page mailed to the co-op board anonymously would force
the issue.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/should-a-friend-be-told-the-
real-reason-he-didnt-get-the-job.html
The Ethicist –Work Inequality1

ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:

I commend you for your concern about the moral standing of your
employer, but your characterizations are pretty broad-brush. Big
corporations, like every collective human endeavor, have good effects
and bad ones, and sometimes it can be hard to be sure which
predominates. On a global level, extreme poverty has decreased by
more than 50 percent since 1990, as countries like China and India
entered the world economy. Could your tech company have played a
role in that? Is it really just a wart on the face of history? Still, if you
remain convinced that Giant Tech is evil, you might spare yourself
some anxiety and step aside for someone who will do the work with a
less- burdened heart. If this company wants you, there are bound to be
plenty of other bidders for your services.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/should-a-friend-be-told-the-
real-reason-he-didnt-get-the-job.html
The Ethicist –Unpaid Internships1
ANSWER FROM THE NY TIMES:
There is not. You have no standing to make demands, at least not the kinds that anyone
will take seriously. A thousand eager aspirants are waiting for the chance to take your
position. Start issuing ultimatums, and one of those lucky suckers will get her wish.

That, however, is a practical consideration. As a matter of ethics, you should be able to

demand, or at least expect, that the internship offer a worthwhile return on the time and
money you put into it — namely, a better sense of whether and how to pursue a career in
that field, and the skills or relationships with which to do so.

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay everyone — not just official
employees, but anyone whom they “suffer or permit to work.” Purely educational
positions are exempt from this requirement, but to qualify, an internship has to exist for
the exclusive benefit of the intern. It can’t help the employer in any way; in fact, it’s a
bonus if it actually impedes the employer’s operations.

Plenty of internships that violate employment law might still benefit the intern, of
course, by giving her an inside track in a competitive field. Even crummy internships
have some value. A firsthand glimpse of the mailroom may not be the stuff of dreams,
but it’s more informative than no glimpse whatsoever.

That’s why, whether an individual internship is fun or awful, the system as a whole is
unethical: it reserves those foot-in-the-door opportunities for people who can afford to
go without a paycheck. That only entrenches the advantages that children of privilege
already enjoy, further tilting an uneven playing field. And it undermines paid employees,
who have the same interest you do in making sure every worker is fairly compensated.

Which raises the question of an intern’s own ethical responsibility. If it’s wrong to
knowingly benefit from an unjust system, are people like you — unhappy people like you!
— just perpetuating the problem?

Attorneys at the New York firm Outten & Golden have brought lawsuits against the
Hearst Corporation and Fox Searchlight Pictures over unpaid internships at those
companies. Elizabeth Wagoner worked on both cases, but as unfair as she believes the
system to be, not even she thinks you have an ethical obligation to quit. It wouldn’t be
fair to ask a worker to keep her boss honest, she said, not when employers have so much
more bargaining power than their employees.

I agree; if you have your heart set on a career in an intern-dependent field, it would be
unreasonable to expect you to abandon that hope just because the people currently in
charge refuse to do what’s right. Wagoner suggests taking the internship and filing a
lawsuit, but few are capable of undertaking that effort. Better, I think, is her suggestion
to take the internship and then call the Labor Department — something you or your
colleagues can do confidentially. Tell them the position is not legal. But don’t tell them it
hasn’t been educational. After all, it has already taught you something about the values
of the field you hope to enter. Does that make you wish for a better field? Or just a better
internship?

1
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/the-internship-rip-off.html