My review of The Landing School

[eathena]

I was very disappointed with the quality of The Landing School and most of the student in my program feel the same way. The main issues include:
1. The education you will receive in each program is much less than what is advertised.
2. There is a continuous conflict within the staff that makes the learning experience terrible.
3. Complete lack of a professional atmosphere. There was not one minute that you didn't listen to people swearing, cussing, and making very vulgar remarks.
4. The staff could care less about your complaints. They simply say that they will address it next year which I know they don't. One of the students returned for a second year in another program and confirmed with me that noting has changed.

My advice: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I have learned more working at a composite shop for 4 months than I ever did in the 10 month boat building program. This is soo ironic. I pay 15K for an educational program and get much more in half the time without the headaches and I'm getting paid now.

The only programs worth attending are the Design and Marine Systems. The other programs are a complete waste of time. The school has the potential to be very good but they need to restructure and restaff for that to happen.

[The copper guy]

I am interested in your experience with schooling.
IT has been a longtime plan of mine to put a set of training DVDs together.
ONE DAY PERHAPS

[froudedude]

Complete lack of a professional atmosphere. There was not one minute that you didn't listen to people swearing, cussing, and making very vulgar remarks.

Is that unprofessional? I mean the salty talk seems to come with most of the field.

[dskira]

Originally Posted by froudedude

Is that unprofessional? I mean the salty talk seems to come with most of the field.

Not on a school. The Landing School, is a school. People has to behave like in a school, not like on a shipyard which by the way behave quite better than decribed by our friend at the Landing.
It is unprofessional
Daniel

[alan white]

Try the Apprentice shop in Rockland, Maine. They seem like a decent bunch.

[PresBob]

I would be pleased to speak with anyone personally about the education and opportunities at The Landing School. Among some of the recent changes and improvements are new degree programs, revised curriculum and a reorganized administration. Feel free to call me at 207-985-7976. Always great to hear from alumni working in the field as well.

Bob

[Leo Lazauskas]

Originally Posted by eathena

I was very disappointed with the quality of The Landing School and most of the student in my program feel the same way. The main issues include:
1. The education you will receive in each program is much less than what is advertised.

If that is the case, why not ask for your money back?
And if it is also true that most of the students feel that way, it might be time to unleash lawyers on the school to protect future students from being ripped off.

Good luck!
Leo.

[waikikin]

Originally Posted by eathena

I was very disappointed with the quality of The Landing School and most of the student in my program feel the same way. The main issues include:
1. The education you will receive in each program is much less than what is advertised.
2. There is a continuous conflict within the staff that makes the learning experience terrible.
3. Complete lack of a professional atmosphere. There was not one minute that you didn't listen to people swearing, cussing, and making very vulgar remarks.
4. The staff could care less about your complaints. They simply say that they will address it next year which I know they don't. One of the students returned for a second year in another program and confirmed with me that noting has changed.

My advice: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I have learned more working at a composite shop for 4 months than I ever did in the 10 month boat building program. This is soo ironic. I pay 15K for an educational program and get much more in half the time without the headaches and I'm getting paid now.

The only programs worth attending are the Design and Marine Systems. The other programs are a complete waste of time. The school has the potential to be very good but they need to restructure and restaff for that to happen.

Interesting stuff, here in Australia there is apprenticeship based training, with paid on the job/work training at an increasing percentage rate per annum of a trades persons pay & a day a week at government TAFE(technical and further education) School, seems to have worked well for a long time, in America is there a similar scheme. There is some other paid tuition available here in Tasmania & other places, anyone here done some & how would you rate it?

[larochelle]

Thank you Eathena, I am currently looking into boatbuilding schools and reviews like this one are very helpful. I wish more graduates of the boatbuilding program from this school and others expressed their satisfaction or dissatisfaction about their program. It would help future students like me make an informed decision and in the end, force bad schools to change. I'm hoping you are still keeping an eye on these forums, if you are could you expand a bit on your review. For example, what would you change about the school? What was the staff in conflict about?

Thanks again

[Nurb]

The more reviews the better.
Not to dismiss eathena's bad experience, but there have been many who have enjoyed their experience at the landing school too and think highly of it. For example:
The Landing School Worth the investment?
The Landing School
Where to go from The Landing School

[gonzo]

Cussing and coarse language is unprofessional. An occasional curse is OK. If someone does it in a constant basis I will fire him. It looks really bad with customers.

[vsmith]

I want to provide a counter point to eathena, because he and I were at the school at the same time I think.

I was enrolled in the Wooden Composites Program. I came from a background in Financial Management. I knew how to sail but my experience with woodworking was pretty much limited to assembling IKEA Furniture.

After 10 months of school I built a boat and got a job working on wooden boat restoration for a shop in southern Kentucky. I walked into the shop and knew how to work with the boats, I had ideas that they hadn't thought of, and I was able to fit in with the crew pretty seamlessly.

I have also learned enough about working with wood to be able to build most of the furniture for my new apartment, and I have managed to make a couple extra bucks doing some other carpentry work on the side.

I was on the "Student Government" such as it was and I don't know what eathena is talking about, my experience with getting feedback from the students was tough. The first thing we had complaints about was the tool list that we got before school and the program directors created a new list by Christmas. Other requests were things like "get more sponsorship", plow the parking lot more, and other things that the school honestly just couldn't always respond to in a quick fashion.

Yes, people swore. But there were other issues that were far more pressing that had to be dealt with and I think that the school administration picked its battles carefully and very well.

Overall, I had a very positive experience at the Landing School. I learned a lot more than I thought I would. I made some valuable contacts, and I think that if you are someone who has little experience with woodworking or shop skills, the Landing School is a great place to learn those skills and learn to apply them in boat building.

I will also say, that I didn't have a model year there. I was disruptive at time, not a model student and generally could be a pain in the butt. But all that said, the instructors were fantastic and the administration couldn't have been more considerate or understanding.

[DerCribben]

I was googling the Landing School a bit ago and this post is what brought me to this forum. Looks like a great place to talk to some people about boat building and design and I'm going to get right to that, but I REALLY need to rebut a few of these points first. I think you may be going a little overboard there bud...


1. The education you will receive in each program is much less than what is advertised.

I just started at the landing school yesterday in their wood/composite boatbuilding course and don't in any way expect to leave the landing school ten months from now as a master boatbuilder. I think the Landing School advertises that they are giving exactly what you need to go out and get a job in the boatbuilding industry and from what I read around the web they do that and then some. Pretty much any college degree you get even in four years is still only going to give you enough to be able to keep your head above water when you get hired long enough to become useful to your employer like your coworkers that have been there for a year, five, ten, etc...

2. There is a continuous conflict within the staff that makes the learning experience terrible.

I can see that Paul (wood boats/small craft instructor), Rick (Wood/Composites instructor) and Jamie (Head of "boatbuilding" think a Dean) all have their own ideas techniques and opinions but I think the savvy student could probably use this to get 3x the experience. They all seem very professional in the way that they deal with one another and I've had the chance to talk to all of them on many occasions while trying to decide between wood, composites, or wood/composites as my first year and I have never heard anyone trash anyone else even in the interest of getting an additional student in their program.


3. Complete lack of a professional atmosphere. There was not one minute that you didn't listen to people swearing, cussing, and making very vulgar remarks.

Good luck getting college kids to not swear, it is what it is, sounds like you had a couple bad eggs in your particular class and it sucks that you had to deal with that but none of the staff at the landing school are even the types of guys to drop gratuitous F-bombs all over the place. I'm not sure why you would tell the world to avoid the school because you happened to have a couple Dbag classmates.


4. The staff could care less about your complaints. They simply say that they will address it next year which I know they don't. One of the students returned for a second year in another program and confirmed with me that noting has changed.

The school just did a major restructure and overhaul of the building structure and layout pretty much based off of student suggestions from the past couple years. Minor change suggestions are what they are and are usually treated as such, major ones take time to implement.


My advice: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I have learned more working at a composite shop for 4 months than I ever did in the 10 month boat building program. This is soo ironic. I pay 15K for an educational program and get much more in half the time without the headaches and I'm getting paid now.

See my first point bud, you are supposed to learn more working in your field where the place you work is likely developing new products/techniques than you are in school. School is a foundation you will be building off of for the rest of your life if you are worth anything and chances are one of the main reasons you got the job you have now is due to your landing school certificate.


The only programs worth attending are the Design and Marine Systems. The other programs are a complete waste of time. The school has the potential to be very good but they need to restructure and restaff for that to happen.

WOW, This is a pretty heavy statement coming from someone with 10 months of school and 4 months at the jobsite. I am definitely stoked to come back and learn marine systems next year though, and then design after that (although probably from Westlawn at that point though mostly because it is distance learning and I would like to get to somewhere sunnier and warmer after the next 2 years. Not to mention my hero Bruce King who's dinghy Scheherazade inspired me to get into boat building and design went there)

[waikikin]

Originally Posted by DerCribben

I was googling the Landing School a bit ago and this post is what brought me to this forum. Looks like a great place to talk to some people about boat building and design and I'm going to get right to that, but I REALLY need to rebut a few of these points first. I think you may be going a little overboard there bud...


1. The education you will receive in each program is much less than what is advertised.

I just started at the landing school yesterday in their wood/composite boatbuilding course and don't in any way expect to leave the landing school ten months from now as a master boatbuilder. I think the Landing School advertises that they are giving exactly what you need to go out and get a job in the boatbuilding industry and from what I read around the web they do that and then some. Pretty much any college degree you get even in four years is still only going to give you enough to be able to keep your head above water when you get hired long enough to become useful to your employer like your coworkers that have been there for a year, five, ten, etc...

2. There is a continuous conflict within the staff that makes the learning experience terrible.

I can see that Paul (wood boats/small craft instructor), Rick (Wood/Composites instructor) and Jamie (Head of "boatbuilding" think a Dean) all have their own ideas techniques and opinions but I think the savvy student could probably use this to get 3x the experience. They all seem very professional in the way that they deal with one another and I've had the chance to talk to all of them on many occasions while trying to decide between wood, composites, or wood/composites as my first year and I have never heard anyone trash anyone else even in the interest of getting an additional student in their program.


3. Complete lack of a professional atmosphere. There was not one minute that you didn't listen to people swearing, cussing, and making very vulgar remarks.

Good luck getting college kids to not swear, it is what it is, sounds like you had a couple bad eggs in your particular class and it sucks that you had to deal with that but none of the staff at the landing school are even the types of guys to drop gratuitous F-bombs all over the place. I'm not sure why you would tell the world to avoid the school because you happened to have a couple Dbag classmates.


4. The staff could care less about your complaints. They simply say that they will address it next year which I know they don't. One of the students returned for a second year in another program and confirmed with me that noting has changed.

The school just did a major restructure and overhaul of the building structure and layout pretty much based off of student suggestions from the past couple years. Minor change suggestions are what they are and are usually treated as such, major ones take time to implement.


My advice: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I have learned more working at a composite shop for 4 months than I ever did in the 10 month boat building program. This is soo ironic. I pay 15K for an educational program and get much more in half the time without the headaches and I'm getting paid now.

See my first point bud, you are supposed to learn more working in your field where the place you work is likely developing new products/techniques than you are in school. School is a foundation you will be building off of for the rest of your life if you are worth anything and chances are one of the main reasons you got the job you have now is due to your landing school certificate.


The only programs worth attending are the Design and Marine Systems. The other programs are a complete waste of time. The school has the potential to be very good but they need to restructure and restaff for that to happen.

WOW, This is a pretty heavy statement coming from someone with 10 months of school and 4 months at the jobsite. I am definitely stoked to come back and learn marine systems next year though, and then design after that (although probably from Westlawn at that point though mostly because it is distance learning and I would like to get to somewhere sunnier and warmer after the next 2 years. Not to mention my hero Bruce King who's dinghy Scheherazade inspired me to get into boat building and design went there)

Hi DerCribben, Sounds like your looking forward to a great experience at the school. In my experience of learning & instructing on the job, the attitude of the student is a very important factor, some are interested & engaged & adopt a "learning attitude" hunting down extra research, investing in books, tools etc, & some others just want you to "teach me"/"learn me" . Out on the job you can easy tell the difference just by looking at & in their tool box & noting when & how long they spend at smoko & lunch.Regards from Jeff.

[DerCribben]

Originally Posted by waikikin

Hi DerCribben, Sounds like your looking forward to a great experience at the school. In my experience of learning & instructing on the job, the attitude of the student is a very important factor, some are interested & engaged & adopt a "learning attitude" hunting down extra research, investing in books, tools etc, & some others just want you to "teach me"/"learn me" . Out on the job you can easy tell the difference just by looking at & in their tool box & noting when & how long they spend at smoko & lunch.Regards from Jeff.

Cheers Jeff, I am definitely looking forward to a great experience at the school. So far so good, everything so far just keeps telling me I did good and that this is exactly what I should be doing. If I find any different I'll happily come back and eat crow for talking too soon but I don't think I'll need to.