Paying for Internships?!?

The Wall Street Journal on 2009/01/28 had an article discussing the state of affairs in the world of internships that caught me flat footed and slack-jawed. That people take unpaid internships is nothing new to me. What is new to me is that people are now paying to:

1. Have people find them unpaid internships to the tune of $8,000 !!!!  I'm not sure I would want to hire anyone who had to pay someone to get them an internship that paid no money.  Seriously if you can't find someone to take you on for no money, you're doing something wrong.  Especially if your family has $8,000 laying around.
2. People are buying internships at charity auctions.  I can see how this is great for the charities.  I can see how some people might find this analogous to paying someone to find you an internship.  But notice that the intern-to-be's life is easier as the effort of finding an internship has been reduced and there is NO MERIT COMPETITION.  You pay you play!


3. Christina pointed out (when I mentioned the article) that some vocational disciplines are charging for people to be interns or apprentices (not in the article).  This strikes me as ridiculously dark ages in mindset.  Originally I though this was the most outrageous, but then I realized that that the intern-to-be still need to find the position and prove their worth.  So in a bizarre way, this is the most honest of these 3 options.

Seriously, what has happened to our society?  I am assuming this is spill over from the massive surge that parents are putting on their children to over achieve.  (If you haven't read The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids go read it now - scary stuff!)