36. Scudit: Class Instability

It seems to come with the territory, but all three private language schools I have attended manifested a lack of stability in its student population over the declared length of the course. Ostensibly, each course was four weeks, but the “four weeks” was really broken into two-week periods, and so those of us who travelled from afar to attend the entire course were subjected to the inevitable disruption that occurs while new students are tested and placed. To make matters worse, it appeared that one could join or leave at any time.

This practice of allowing students to enter at any time may be economically advantageous to the school, but it is highly disruptive and, in my opinion, unfair to those of us who sign up for the entire course. If a course has a set day when it starts and ends, the school should respect these dates. Either declare the course a 2-week course -- or for whatever period of time the school deems fitting -- or allocate the students accordingly. Students who attend all four weeks should be in one class, and those for 2 weeks or less in another. With the current practice, the schools are exploiting the forbearance of those who attend the entire four weeks of the course.

At Scuola Leonardo, we were actually stalled for an afternoon while the incoming students were tested. We also lost most of the third week as the instructor went over the same material with the new entrants. At Scudit I lost the entire class after my second week. In fact, I got the impression there was a wholesale shuffling of students old and new. I even found material that had been taught to me in one class repeated in the next right down to the handouts. Ironically, the course had a definite start-up and final date, and yet students could join at any time. Full credit must go to Linguait because there my class was fairly permanent for the four weeks, and the small number of new entries did fit in easily.

Let me repeat: I think a school that truly respects those students who sign up for the entire 4-week course as advertised should run a separate class for them. Otherwise we are being unduly exploited because it is most disruptive if not also dishonest to hold back our class while they test and place the incoming students. I strongly urge anyone who is thinking of registering for all four weeks of a 4-week course to first find out from the school what is its practice with respect to short-term students. If possible, avoid those schools that allow students to enter at any time.