I was enrolled in the 10-week, 60-hour Make-up Artistry class that began on Jan. 16 2012. Generally speaking, every one of the eight classes I attended (over four weeks) had a similar theme complete unprofessionalism. The instructor was more than ten minutes late to every class after the first week. Thats a total of more than 60 minutes of instruction time lost, just because the instructor was late. Throughout every single class, the instructor continually made and received text messages.
Also, class time was regularly wasted on topics not pertaining at all to make-up, for example, the instructors and students personal lives. The first four classes were based on lecture that could have and should have been accomplished in one class time of three hours. The amount of attention each student received was not adequate or acceptable for having only four students in class (and only three students by the third week because another student dropped out). The class did not even receive make-up kits until the fourth class. If we had gotten the kits earlier, for the third class as promised, we could have started working on the make-up trade much earlier in the course.
Here is an outline of the specific incidents that occurred during the four weeks of class during which I was paying to learn the make-up trade:
1/16 Loud music was playing throughout the school during the class lecture. Each student was pulled out of class individually for ten minutes to work out a payment plan with the owner, making it necessary for the instructor to keep repeating portions of the introductory lecture. Also, the instructor was receiving and sending text messages throughout the class.
1/18 During this class, we lost two hours of a three hour class because the owner interrupted class for a photo shoot in the class room. The instructor was pulled from class to do make-up for the photo shoot models. The students just sat there watching the owner take pictures while the instructor applied make-up to a model in another room.
1/23 Students did not receive make-up kits as promised. Again, loud music was playing throughout the school during class lecture. The instructor was late, and then continued to make and receive text messages throughout the entire class. The lecture that was supposed to be completed on the first night of class was continued.
1/25 Loud music was playing throughout the school again. The instructor was late again. Students received make-up kits, but were disappointed, as I explain below. The instructor continued lecture, but did not give any hands-on training. The instructor assigned students to practice make-up on the weekend for the following Monday to show the instructor how we apply our own make-up.
1/30 The instructor was late again. She took the entire first hour showing us how to apply a five-minute face to herself, and then assigned each student to show her how we apply make-up individually to ourselves. Throughout this exercise, the instructor provided very little supervision because she was entirely consumed with her cell phone.
2/1 The instructor was late again. The instructor used almost the entire class time to apply make-up to the two students who were in attendance. The instructor lectured about make-up brush cleaning for the second time, and then assigned students to clean the schools and her own personal brushes for remainder of class.
2/6 The instructor was late again. She demonstrated application of one-shade eye shadow, which was supposed to be covered during class on Jan. 23. While students practiced one-shade eye shadow, the instructor worked on finishing her entire face instead of supervising students.
2/8 The instructor was late again. That night, the owner told the instructor that she forgot to email the students to tell us that she would be taking our pictures to add to the website. The owner asked us to quickly apply make-up to our own faces for the pictures. This process wasted over a half hour of very necessary class time. Then, the instructor demonstrated two-shade eye shadow application. She then worked on finishing her full face and instructed students to watch and not begin practice, even though we had seen her apply her foundation and do her eyebrows at least two times before.By the time we were allowed to start practice, I forgot the process for the two-shade technique.
Then, the instructor took a personal phone call while we were practicing. She stayed on the phone in the class room, and all the students heard her conversation. I asked for help in picking colors to use for the shadow application, but the instructor refused to help me. I was struggling to choose colors while the instructor was gossiping on the phone. While the instructor was on the phone, all three students removed their shadow at least once. I removed mine four times. Another student removed hers three times. We were forced to leave our own make-up stations to show the instructor our two-shade shadow progress instead of the instructor monitoring us during the application because she
was stationed at her stool on her cell phone.
I tried to remain optimistic through the four weeks that I attended class, but things only got worse and worse. The last class that I attended was so unprofessional that it was very obvious that the instructor had absolutely no interest at all in helping anyone learn the make-up trade. I have no doubt in her ability as a make-up artist but I do strongly question her teaching skills. The school sanctioned and contributed to this unprofessionalism and low-quality instruction (the loud music, the class interruptions, etc.), which is why I am withdrawing and want my money back.
I expect a refund of my payments in full because the unprofessional nature of the classes meant that I basically received almost no instruction at all. I do understand that I began to use the make-up kit provided by the school and that I should have to pay for that because I will have to keep it. But I was promised a make-up kit worth $500 and was told that the kit would include hand-picked products, including some name-brand products. What I received was clearly not worth $500 and included only generic products. I requested a manufacturer price list for the make-up kit from Branford Academy. I was sent an EXCEL spreadsheet made by the financial adviser of the school stating that the kit was worth more than $500. If that is the case, then I see no reason why I cannot get the information from the manufacturer including a manufacturer name, price list, and packing slip.
0 comments