I was talking to a friend about Social Work grad school programs and how it makes absolutely NO SENSE to go into debt for a degree where I would be expected to do 3,000 hours of unpaid or underpaid work afterwards to get licensed.
It's unfair because it keeps so many people like me out of the field. People with "lived experience" likely cannot afford to go in debt AND work for so little.
So social workers are overwhelmingly privileged people with a savior complex going into communities they aren't even a part of. The system encourages this.
Maybe it gets better after that, but I'm at a point where I'm tired of proving myself to others. I also refuse to do free work anymore, especially emotional labor.