--- On Fri, 6/12/09, Jack Dylan <[email protected]> wrote:
> Why no names? I understand it's acceptable on Tango-L to
> critique
> Tango instructors, good or bad.
>
> Jack
Politeness, willing to give teachers the benefit of a doubt. For those
curious, there's google.
In a forum like this, however, it pays to be careful of criticizing teaching
couples because it might be unfair. Perhaps they were having a bad day.
Perhaps someone wasn't feeling that well and it took a lot for them just to get
out of bed. Perhaps they got bad news that morning and their head wasn't in
the right place. Perhaps the problem was the student and not the teacher.
I know of one couple whose first try at teaching in the States did not go well
at all. However, they were open to criticism, improved during the weekend, and
I've invited them to teach here multiple times. Public criticism of their
initial workshops would have been unfair, don't you think?
When one offers criticism, though, it should be constructive. Just saying
"they suck" isn't going to tell anyone anything useful. Was it the lack of
details, inability to control the class, indifference to students, imbalance of
teaching patterns versus technique? If the person was standing right in front
of you, what would you say to help that person improve? Wouldn't you want that
person to become a better teacher?
Also, the fault lies a lot with the organizer(s), too. As an organizer myself,
I make sure visiting teachers are given the info they need to shine and to make
a good match between the teachers and the intended audience. I've seen what
happens with organizers who just let the teacher do his/her own thing. I mean,
what if you knew a new event was being organized by Tom Stermitz or Clay
Nelson? You know what you can expect.
Trini de Pittsburgh
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