Right, what is nasty here is not the work, but the idea that doing the job is demeaning.
Some independent (high) schools that I am familiar with as a student and a parent have a work program where the students take on responsibility for specific cleaning jobs, or other work. As a student I worked in the work program office and also cleaned a lounge weekly. My son, at a different school, did after-class cleaning of a floor in a classroom building as part of a team.
My kids HS and junior high had students doing janitorial work.
When I was in college if you had work study and wanted to work you basically went to a large bulletin board. Jobs were listed on cards with basic info on type of work, hours, location etc then you took the card and went to or otherwise contacted the person in charge. Some jobs were admin, some cleaning, some stacking books etc. Basically a person would only do cleaning if they selected it. A few jobs had special qualifications like life guards.
Just to clarify, the dorm crew at Harvard doesn’t clean dorms for current students during the school year. The dorm crew cleans the rooms about to be inhabited at the beginning of the year, I know for sure. Beyond that, I don’t know what additional responsibilities there are, but Harvard students clean their own rooms or have to pay someone to do it.
Back in my day work-study jobs were basically just a way to get a check, with any learning being purely incidental. Jobs were mostly clerical (library, department offices, etc.), food services (serving, cleaning, waiter, park cars, etc.) facilities (checking ID’s, distributing mail, running errands) or teaching assistants (grading, tutoring, etc.). The main exception was running small business units at the affiliated Student Agencies - though that seemed mostly the province of Business school students.
My impression of the current situation (at least at some schools) is that there are quite a few paid term time research opportunities that didn’t seem to exist at all 40 years ago
I was a work-study student, working in the dining hall, serving other students, washing dishes, etc. There was some stigma attached to these jobs because everyone would know you were on financial aid. But there were so many other students doing this that it wasn’t a big deal. I never thought there was supposed to be an educational component to the job–it was “work so that you can afford to study.” I actually enjoyed these jobs as a break from academic work. It was convenient to work in my nearby dining hall and to have a schedule that worked around my classes. Glad that the school provided these jobs. There is no shame in honest work. If you are a student who needs money, you can’t afford to be too picky about what type of work you do.
I enjoyed my work study jobs. As I recall, everyone scrambled to try to get the jobs which were convenient, hours that worked with your schedule and paid decently. You had your choice — the sooner you sought a position, generally the more options would be available.
I had a range of jobs. My 1st job was checking in the names of students who came to eat in the cafeteria. It was easy and convenient, requiring no brainpower.
My next job was working for the associate provost. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with he so I asked if I could reactivate the National honor societies on campus, so with his blessing I did that.
My next job was working in the library my major’s department. I got to know most of the faculty and was able to study a lot, since very few people even knew our department had a library.
I never applied to be a cleaner and can’t recall seeing any work study positions for them. It was decades ago, so don’t remember.
D got herself hired to help film things on campus (she wanted to major in cinema) — she was the only non work study hire and they had to let her go when their budget was cut so they could only have work study students (the fed govt subsidizes work study wages).
Even though I already think of Harvard’s efforts at boosting socioeconomic diversity among its students as being shallow, I was still surprised to learn this about work study at Harvard. Our third tier regional university has work study, but the dining service and cleaning service are contracted out. Students mainly do office or library related work.
Harvard professors put out tons of studies on income inequality and racial bias etc etc. Is it all just for show? Seems like it. H can certainly find other jobs for their work study students . In a university where there are already massive differences among the students who are haves and have nots, the cleaning work seems to just reinforce stereotypes.
Some of my daughters jobs involved her major, theater design. She was paid to learn a new skill like painting a scene or working in the costume shop or sewing etc. So being paid to advance her skill. Her favorite job was working in her dorm receptions desk. She could go down in her pajamas,no one ever came by and she did her homework! This was a small Lac. She is a bartista at her current job and she loves it since she always wanted to do this and it’s fun. She transfered as a junior to another Lac and she met tons of people this way.
My son’s college job was something he never had time to do in high school but always wanted to, being an umpire and referee. He’s a sports kid. He was always taking engineering summer camps or opportunities. So he does both with intermural sports and also plays some sports. This is actually a great stress reliever for him, fun, keeps him in shape running around and graduate students call him “Sir” for some reason. He has done this his freshman sophomore years so far.
My daughter chose to do Harvard dorm crew for years. She began before she started back when she could pick among pre-orientation programs: some cost, some free, dorm crew paid. I did not like the connotations, but she did not feel put upon. During the May turn over—move out, alumni reunion, summer move in— she could make a year’s spending money, given a good base rate and over-time. She had other well paying jobs at Harvard, but that was the plum.
Meanwhile students at my state U are poorly paid for their work study positions. If you see work as paid labor, being well paid matters.
Not sure I see any issue her but I get the jist of it. The students are not being forced to take these jobs right? There are hundreds to thousands of jobs available on campus either work study or just finding a campus job.
That person at many colleges is a decently paid full time employee with benefits. Though at some it could be an undocumented worker hired by a shady subcontractor who takes a chunk of their paychecks, too. Or in between.
What makes me feel weird about it, is cleaning up after fellow student. One’s peers academically, but not in terms of work. That seems like it could be awkward, or more than awkward. I’m not sure how I feel about it.
On another note, I am surprised to hear that Harvard’s summer orientation programs are not all free. They have different costs and you can opt out to clean dorms? That’s considered an orientation to the school?
So it’s ok if its a (likely) uneducated blue collar union member, but not a 20-something striving for an education?
Don’t forget that these are temp jobs for peak times – move-in, move-out – so its not like these kids are replacing full-time adult workers.
Sounds like this is work done in a block of time like May move out, Aug move in, etc. They need more manpower for a few weeks so hire temporary workers to come in and do a job. They pay more because there is a need to get it done in a short time.
@bluebayou @twoinanddone No it is year-round with more work at the beginning and end of the year.
@OHMomof2 orientation is free at Harvard.
If you read my post, I wrote about pre-orientation. The week long pre-orientations are optional and varied. Mountain climbing costs, community engagement/service is free, and dorm crew pays, as examples. My dd was very well paid for jobs related and to her research as well as for her seasonal work with dorm crew. She also had free and fabulous learning experiences during the breaks.
I understand it is hard for people to understand amazing the support is at Harvard. I have worked at universities my whole life, but I never saw anything like what my dd experienced. She did dorm crew because it was fun and lucrative. Her choice.
My kid went to a school where all of the orientation trips and programs are free. There is no necessity to skip mountain climbing because it costs too much. There’s also startup funding for lower income kids.
It is a little surprising to me that Harvard charges for theirs, given that it has a lot more money than my kid’s school.
It depends on the job. My daughter (a science major) had a work study job in a research lab. The contacts she made there enabled her to land a prestigious internship. So for her, work study was both a way to earn money and enhance learning. Her roommate picked her work study job at a facility for the university athletes based on the fact that there was very little to do there, so she could study while working.
Back in the day my husband did dorm crew as part of work-study freshman year. It definitely also ran during term time back then. We did not clean our own toilets even in the suites. He can’t remember now, but he didn’t work during the school year later - he thinks because he made enough during the summer at NIH. He was a solid middle class kid - father was a diplomat, at the time his mother was going back to school to get a degree in library science. Another boyfriend of mine from a more hard up family had library jobs that seemed to involve sitting at desks doing your homework. I was not on financial aid at all, but I worked in the library shelving books starting sophomore year. I also did some house-cleaning one summer. I didn’t think it was demeaning - it paid the rent.