Andrew,
You are not intirely right here about fraud being a civil matter. Yes, fraud is ALSO a matter of civil action, FRAUD is a felony. "shutting them down" doesn't necessarily mean putting a "closed" sign in front of the buesiness. I didn't expect anyone to take that in a litteral sense. I won't bore the board to tears with all the legal ramifications. If these places act in a manner that is criminally fradulent, it is a matter for the police. People go to jail for fraud all the time.
As mentioned, there's no guarantee of a job, it's PLACEMENT assistance these places offer. It's like life, there are NO guarantees!
You are on the mark about islands putting $$$ before quality. Too bad that exists. I am sure a good percentage of otherwise good instructors come back feeling pretty jaded, they may not even continue as instructors after such a screwing from an island resort.
I think your delving into troubled waters here with "Quality" instructors making good money. You're intimating that instructors not making good money as intructors are less than quality. You may want to edit that. I don't think you necessarily meant it to sound like that, but that is how it's rolling off the tongue.
Yes, Instructors need to do thier homework on a job before accepting it. There's a true statement and then some!
I think your context about an attorney in comparasin with some of these trade schools is out of context though. I've encountered a few trade school instructors, one I know real well, not too shabby. Especially the one I am thinking of. No, I am not overly fond of the 3 month ITC, but hey, I'm no authority on the subject. I did my ITC in a 6 month program through a shop's IT and CD. I had to rise up through the ranks, no problem, it was there for me. It worked. Do I turn my nose up at instructors from prodive, etc? No, why should I? Any other attitude about them it elitism and has no place in the modern industry.
The comment in reply to "Is it too good to be true" where you said, it's true but it's not good, once again, I don't think that's the case. Don't stick pins in this guy's ambitions. If this is what he sees as his preferred method of getting there, well, while your opinion is mosre than likely heartfelt and even of genuine good intent, it's still shooting holes in his ideas without much fact.
With quality training, it doesn't have to take a couple of years.
And no, it's not a too good to be true to expect success in a few months. Alot of these wham blam slam 3 month ITC's and IDC's hammer out some pretty sharp instructors who do succeed.
Anyway, I'm not stepping on your toes in thsi reply, just addressing some things that just arn't true. You did step on mine though and tossed out some misinformation. I don't believe that was your intent.
Would I recommend a 3 month program from newbie to instructor to someone close? No. Would I bad mouth one? No, no reason. You can get a sharp instructor from one of those places who's become a sharp instructor because they just have the stuff. You can get a real bonehead instructor from traditional rise through the ranks program too. Roll the dice there. I've bumped into some professors in college who were complete dolts with all the dysfunctions of a season of Jerry Springer episodes. I've met some pretty sharp instructors in a junior college. See what I am trying to present here?
Good debate though.
I had to bite my tongue a few times in writing this, as I am not "pro" "insta-instructor" especially with one school in particular who while I have had no dealings with as a student or customer, a family member of mine has. She knows her stuff, but they pretty well lobotomized her in the process of thier program. I don't want to get into a school slamming session, so I'll zip my trap on that one.. Bad scene, but I chose not to allow that train of thought influence what I thought of Scuba Instructor trade schools in general. I'll do better just keeping my personal feelings out of it.
Anyway, as I ramble on, I've bandied this about probably way more than necessary and wrote a book where I thought I would just hammer out a simple paragraph. Oh well. I've done worse.