This is way off topic, but you mentioned being a professional scrutineer. Can you tell us how does one become a scrutineer (professional or in-training)? I'll admit the only reason I even considered attending the IDF this winter in Florida is because it promises workshops on scrutineering. Since it is unlikely that low-level amateurs like yours truly will have a chance to train as judges, much as I would like to, scrutineering might be the next best choice. I'm addicted enough to dance comps that I might as well put it to some use. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Quote: A teacher very much chooses which students to work with when he decides where to teach. To counter this "discrimination," public schools have to pay more than private schools.
Here I am talking about a teacher in a class after he/she has chosen a school and is already given a class to teach. She would not be professional if she decided that only some kids are worth teaching and some are not, therefore she chooses not to give the certain ones the opportunity to succeed.
As for the trash collectors, I said "don't ask me why" and I started a possible reason with "Maybe". I was not trying to support that, that has nothing to do with my arguement. In fact, most of it is not comparable. And even though I still don't know the full situation, I think it is unprofessional for a dance teacher to charge more for a lesson to a single student than a couple based on the amount of work in a lesson, and even that is not necessairly the reason for the price difference we find out later, it is only speculation.
I actually heard a teacher tell a story that she overpriced a package on a guy that didn't believe in showering everyday. She was so sure the price was too high and he bought it anyway, then she was stuck teaching the entire package and probably holding her nose the whole time.
Now, one more point. I despise discrimenation all forms when it comes to people. I don't like it that judges are influenced by body types at a competition. Dancing ability should be the primary factor in judging. I don't like it that dark haired men tend to be taken more seriously than light haired men. I don't like it that Blonde women catch the eyes of men more than red heads or brunettes. I don't like it that gay men are considered to have a better fashion sense than straight men. I don't think rappers should be black and great chefs should be french. And I don't believe that residents of mobile homes are all white trash and red-necks. (Well, not all of them anyway only if they drive camaros and pickup trucks.)
Pro/am students are amateur dancers just as each half of an amateur couple is. All deserve to be treated with the respect as does anyone else. And charging differently is not fair or ethical. So if discrimination (have I even spelled that correctly even once?) is too strong a word, not to mention hard to spell, let's just talk respect. I am so damn tired of this and I will personally put my boot so far up the a$$ of the next person that dis's one of the pro/ammers again, (who I now consider one of my dance bretheryn), that his/her breath will smell like shoe polish.
All am's must stay united in our quest for fair pricing and quality dance instruction. If they divide us, we will fall to the disreputible practices that have plaged this industry for decades. Enough arguing and bickering over symantics, lets do something constructive that ensures Ballroom will continue to become more popular and get these beautiful women dancing.
Something some people have clearly been pointing out that different services go with different price tags. Teaching a couple is quite different from teaching an idividual. One is gettting two people to work well together and the other is teaching an individual to work well with the teacher.
The WASTE REMOVAL ENGINEER's job is to remove waste. Waste can be be a bag of nasty old half-eaten toast, empty cereal boxes, dried orange peels, kitty litter, and yesterdays diapers... or it can be old dead washing machines. Waste is waste, and it is to be removed.
Now of course you can argue that a dance teacher's job is to teach dance, be it to a large group, a couple, an individual. But all the combinations of people in a lesson situation cannot be lumped together like so much waste. Each is different, with a different price tag.
A rather tasteless, yet somehow apt metaphor, would be that of the... lady of the evening. While I'll bet there are some that go by an hourly rate (Pretty Woman?? $100 an hour?), I'll bet there are just as many who put different price tags on different services.
And when it comes down to it, what the heck will a $5 difference make? I think if someone is in a situation where $5 is a big deal they probably shouldn't be shelling out the first 80 bucks to begin with...
I don't like it that Blonde women catch the eyes of men more than red heads or brunettes.
YEAH, WHAT'S UP WITH THAT??????
Pro/am students are amateur dancers just as each half of an amateur couple is. All deserve to be treated with the respect as does anyone else. And charging differently is not fair or ethical.
I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THIS ONE, WE ARE ALL THE SAME AND NO ONE SHOULD BE CHARGED DIFFERENTLY JUST BECAUSE THEIR PARTNER IS NOT AT THE LESSON ON A PARTICULAR DAY.
So if discrimination (have I even spelled that correctly even once?)
YEP, AT LEAST THIS TIME.
I am so damn tired of this and I will personally put my boot so far up the a$$ of the next person that dis's one of the pro/ammers again, (who I now consider one of my dance bretheryn), that his/her breath will smell like shoe polish.
Wellll, let's see now. I don't know any teachers who do not complain that they are not making as much money as they would like. Actually, I don't know ANYBODY who doesn't make that complaint, but I digress. If varying rates are o.k., and some people seem to think so, then the smart thing for me to do is suggest to my own teacher that he charge his Pro Am students more. Then he can get a raise from the "rich" students, and they will become de facto sponsors of my "discount" training.
Mmmmmm...yeah, I think I could learn to love that. Yahhhhh, he's gonna love this. I bet he'll be wondering why he didn't think of it himself. Why, I think I'll call him right now, so he can plan on starting my discount this weekend!
Quote: Not at all. USDA Choice filet mignon costs more than USDA Choice hamburger, even though they are the same quality. They are just different products.
Quite. They are different products. One is high-quality, tender, less gristle (the world-class pro). The other is just the other parts ground up (the six-week wonder). You pay less for hamburger, why wouldn't you expect to pay less for the chain teacher?
BTW, one reason private school teachers are paid less than public school teachers is that private schools usually don't require teaching certification, meaning just about anyone can go teach there.
Quote: BTW, one reason private school teachers are paid less than public school teachers is that private schools usually don't require teaching certification, meaning just about anyone can go teach there.
Now now don't go thrashing private schools or people who teach without certification. A math teacher I had at my private highschool had no teaching certification, she was fresh out of Yale with her degree in mathematics and she was an amazing teacher (and a damn fine dancer to boot, first dancing I ever learned was from her as well).
And don't forget that a private school have to get all the money to pay it's employees from tuition/alums/fund raising. Public schools are supported by the government.
Quote: Now, one more point. I despise discrimenation [sic, sic] all forms when it comes to people. I don't like it that judges are influenced by body types at a competition. Dancing ability should be the primary factor in judging. I don't like it that dark haired men tend to be taken more seriously than light haired men. I don't like it that Blonde women catch the eyes of men more than red heads or brunettes. I don't like it that gay men are considered to have a better fashion sense than straight men. I don't think rappers should be black and great chefs should be french. And I don't believe that residents of mobile homes are all white trash and red-necks. (Well, not all of them anyway only if they drive camaros and pickup trucks.)
I abhor the fact that I don't resemble Tom Cruise, but I'm not going to chastise movie directors for failing to cast me. According to American Heritage's primary definition, to "discriminate" is "to make a clear distinction; distinguish. To make sensible decisions; judge wisely." Do you despise that airlines charge business travelers more than tourists (by discounting advance purchases)? Do you rue the fact that it costs more to ride the DC metro during rush hour than it does at midnight? Do you wish infants were charged the same price as adults to enter amusement parks? Do you find it intolerable that those who can dance best are called "winners" at competitions? Discrimination is at the heart of intelligence: if you cannot discriminate among various available alternatives, you're a vegetable.
Now granted, we have (rightly) decided that certain types of discrimination are off limits--at least when it comes to legal contracts. But those types of discrimination are very carefully circumscribed in the law, and they definitely do not include "lack of dance partner."
Quote: I actually heard a teacher tell a story that she overpriced a package on a guy that didn't believe in showering everyday. She was so sure the price was too high and he bought it anyway, then she was stuck teaching the entire package and probably holding her nose the whole time.
I love this example. It beautifully illustrates the power of welfare economics. If teachers had to charge the same price for all students, this poor smelly guy wouldn't be able to dance at all. He might be willing to pay a billion dollars an hour, it might be his life's only passion, but he would not be able to get a teacher. Thanks to the free market and price discrimination, though, he gets to pay more and learn to dance; and if the teacher feels cheated, the solution is that she should have price discriminated more, not less. According to the logic you applied to Chris's situation, the teacher should have just sucked it up and taught the smelly man for her normal rate; but that doesn't seem fair to her, does it? The more likely outcome is that if she were forced to charge everyone the same price, she just would have refused to teach the guy.
Quote: So if discrimination (have I even spelled that correctly even once?) is too strong a word, not to mention hard to spell, let's just talk respect.
It's too weak a word, since it's something that we all do every day. I agree that all people should be treated with respect. But since when does respectful treatment preclude sound business decision-making? Respect means clearly and honestly stating the terms of any contract into which you enter. Anything beyond that is charity.
