Internships are a way for students to be able to get real world experience before they graduate. 

When you go out into the real world after college to get a job. They want you to have experience. However before you can get experience you often need the education. Internships resolve the unfair question of which came first. The chicken, or the egg. 

Depending on whether or not they get paid. Determines whether their internship is slavery, or a temp job. All in all this a jungle. The entire business world isn't fair. It absolutely never will be so don't expect it to change it's nature. Life is wild, cut throat, and unfair.

While we can all bitch and whine about how it deals us bad cards. When we are fed up with our career situations. It us up to us to shuffle the deck and play a different game to win.