Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A MORAL DILEMMA

I have been asked to teach a landscape quilt class.  At first it was exciting but when I went to her with the description of the class and the material list she stated that she didn't want any of these classes to cost her money.  I was surprised to say the least because the materials were included in the cost of the class.  Boy was I confused.  I explained to her that I wanted to teach from a certain book that was a favorite and that the students were paying for it.  This didn't seem to make a difference to her and she said that she got stuck with too many books for classes that never happened.  She then asked me if I just couldn't copy from the book like other teachers had.  I told her that I couldn't do that because of copy write infringement.  She wasn't happy when I said that.  On top of this issue, I was told by another teacher that she takes half of what the student is charged.  I would think she would encourage classes which would help her sell kits, material, etc.

One thing is certain,  I am not making copies and am now considering teaching a smaller class in my studio.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like one may have a far more interesting intimate affair if you provide the studio with a place for your classes. Taking half of what the student pays sounds hind of harsh. Unless the fee is very small.
    IF I had a input into the structure of hoe the student would pay , I would create a lesson plan that included all of the materials you wanted to use in
    the class that also included already your fee. Present the class as this s what you receive when you take a class from my studio and charge one fee. Don't differentiate your fee and the materials as two separate costs.
    When we created lesson plans and packages for teachers whom were going to take a class they would pay one fee and then they received a
    Plastic what we called tool Boxes and inside all of the materials for the class would be included in the tool box. Your fee was also part of the total cost for teaching the class but never broken out as a line item. THe student signed up l,left a deposit if the class was say going to be one month in advance and would receive a folded sheet that would give a break down of expectations as to what was going to be offered at the class etc. Running Horse

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  2. Sounds like one may have a far more interesting intimate affair if you provide the studio with a place for your classes. Taking half of what the student pays sounds hind of harsh. If I had a input into the structure of how the student would pay, I would create a lesson plan that included all of the materials you were going to use that also included your fee. Present the class as this s what you receive when you take a class from my studio and charge one fee. Don't differentiate your fee and the materials as two separate fees. When we created lesson plans and packages for teachers whom were going to take a class they would pay one fee and then received a Tool Box. Inside all of the materials for the class would be included in the Tool Box. Your fee was also part of the total cost for teaching the class but never broken out as a line item. Students signed up , either left a deposit if the class was going to be one month in advance and would receive a folded sheet that would give a break down of expectations as to what was going to be offered at the class etc. Running Horse

    ReplyDelete

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