(update: typo fixed in title)
I gave myself a full week to calm down before posting this, because I was thoroughly pissed.
I've now quit the kung-fu school I was attending. I still think the teaching is just fine, but they have business practices I simply cannot abide by. I was a bit uncomfortable when I first signed up, but at the time there wasn't anything outside of the realm of plausible deniability. Now that my "basic training" period is over (wait, what?) they asked me to come in and discuss what came next.
What followed was manipulative and downright deceitful. I've been enjoying the classes for some six months now, and working hard both in and out of the studio, but all my desire to ever return completely evaporated inside of five minutes.
So much for that. Something has to gap now, and I think I should approach it with the same metric I used for dancing: what is being taught will take a back seat to who is teaching it. I need to find an instructor/school I can respect.
My only regret is that I've let my workout schedule slide. The bi-weekly classes were enough to keep me motivated and focused, with a short, daily stretch and workout routine. I still do 3+ hours of dancing some days, so I'm not wasting away, but I shouldn't stop just because of this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I always thought it was a shame that there was a business side too. It always seemed like an unnecessary distraction to the work at hand, for everyone really.
I did manage to escape it. Eventually I was in a situation where very little currency was involved (there were still exam and tournament fees). And so if it was providing what you went there for, I'd suggest you take another look elsewhere before discarding the idea.
M -
Thanks, and yeah, that's the plan.
I know that good education isn't typically free, or even cheap. In this case, they expected either a 3-year contracted commitment (he kept bringing up his lawyers re: this, as well), plus lots of start-up fees, or an astronomically high month-to-month plan. Oh, and a certain amount of second-class citizenship was heavily implied with anything short of the 3-year program.
They were willing to "generously" drop the down payment (a sizable sum, just under 10% of the staggering total) if I was willing to sign a contract right then, but insisted that if I had to think about it, that offer was no good. Oh, I was given multiple, conflicting reasons for why they were giving me said offer.
That's not generosity (as they claimed), that's putting pressure on me to impulse buy. That's downright assholish behavior, and I have no respect for it.
Oh, and I was informed that part of the requirement for earning a black belt is recruiting someone to try the program out for a month. I'm thinking something that rhymes with "Tyrranid spleen."
To me, I'd even be willing to consider the rather hefty pricetag they attached to it--if I consider something to be valuable, I'm not opposed to paying good money for it (if I have the money, that is). If they act in a way I can't respect, and treat me like a source of income first and a student second, well, I got no love.
You wrote: I'm thinking something that rhymes with "Tyrranid spleen."
How about: Mr. Clean
Post a Comment