Accredited Schools

From the YDS Director

All this is very sad. As I read Sara's comments, all I can say is that our views of what has happened are not reconcilable. I learned long ago not to get mad when people say bad things about me. I will leave it up to the readers of this very interesting thread to make their own decisions about who sounds the most reasonable.

I will say that I was especially saddened by one thing that Sara said, not because it reflected on us, but because it reflected on another school. She has said that I asked her to retract her statements. In fact what I said was that she was perfectly free to say whatever she wanted about YDS or me personally but I asked her to retract her implication that I had spoken negatively of the Landing School because that could conceivably affect them. I said that I was sure she would do that. Instead she stated that I asked her to retract everything she said.

Let's be very clear that I believe all four of the institutions teaching in the yacht and small craft naval architecture field are doing a good job on their particular approaches. We all have different orientations and goals. Naturally I have a good opinion of my own school but I certainly do not say we are perfect. While I may disagree with Sara on our situation it is perfectly possible for us to fail to be perfect in various ways and I urge anyone who ever feels that we have not done right by them to let me know. I always respond to everyone who writes, though as the school has become bigger I can't say I can always respond in 24 to 48 hours as I used to.

I have just received a request from Sara to quit the course and receive a refund. All lessons that she has paid for but have not been corrected at least once will of course be refunded to her.

In the interest of full disclosure we have had another unsatisfied student quit the program this year because I would not let him skip lesson five, which he didn't want to take. I feel that students and prospective students should be able to talk to dissatisfied students as well as satisfied students. It wouldn't be right to publish his address on an open forum but if anyone would like to correspond with him as well as Sara, I would be happy if you would email me through our web site and I will supply his address as well. At that point everyone who wishes will have full access to every student we have ever had quit the course having expressed dissatisfaction and can draw their own conclusions.

Finally accreditation has been mentioned several times. There are several important points here that may be of use in judging the relevence for your particular situation. First don't confuse "registration" or "licensing" with accreditation. We are registered with the British Department for Education and Skills but they in no way approve our academic standards. The same is true of most state registration or licensing schemes. Second, the only outfit that accredits distance learning programs in the United States in a reputable manner is not applicable to our situation in that it requires a fixed curriculum. We are revising our lessons constantly, especially the later lessons on the more deeply technical aspects of design. I doubt we will ever stop this. Therefore we have no fixed curriculum in that sense. Nevertheless we have always said that we would pursue anything in this line if it specifically will benefit a student rather than just being good advertising material. An instance of this is a potential student in Australia who is a mechanical engineer. He would like us to be recognized by a specific body so that he can practice in a particular Australian state with specific rules. He is exploring what would be required of us and if we can do it for him we will. However our students are all over the world. So it seems best to only explore recognition where it will help particular students.

I think this thread is a good thing. I find that whenever there is criticizm of us I always learn something about how to approach things and what people's concerns are. I cannot follow these forums as we are far too busy. However I do encourage participants to keep me posted on anything I should know about and any way I can help students and potential students.

Thomas A. MacNaughton
Yacht Design School
http://www.macnaughtongroup.com

 

Follow Up

As a follow up to this thread, I did withdraw from YDS, got a partial refund and charged for marking that I never received, only just received my work back this week, 6-8 weeks after it was supposedly sent, and more importantly, am incredibly pleased with my change of schools and think it was a wise move and one that offers more reliability.
Sara

 

People drop out, and are thrown out of ivy league schools too.

I remain quite satisfied with my education with YDS.

Sara, if you truly are a member of the marine industry, you really may wish to avoid what has occured here. The marine industry is rather small and intolerant of sour grapes.

Best of luck,
DC

 

I have been debating all morning on what to think of all this and here we go!
Looking at it from an instructors point of view(from any of the 4 schools mentioned) they are catering to a global market with all sorts of people and ideas. I could easily see an instructor looking over my math work and saying"Oh my god...where did you get this from" We have all been around those that just don't get it no matter how hard they try. This is not directed at Sara by the way!
Tho I do believe "you can do anything if you try" is bunk. I am very weak in math and have a very hard time working through it! most of the pro's here have posted #'s for others to check and I wouldent know where to start. I guess I'm saying these guys that teach over distance have a hard job in front of them. I would be one of the problem children in his bin. he would earn his money working with me on Righting moments and all the other hard ones involved in design. My instructor would be hard pressed to communicate to me something as difficult as some of the math involved in hull design using email and letters. I am a terrible writer and have a hard time getting my point across as this post proves. try describing the effects of the boundry layer and friction drag to somebody who is new to it all.
Thanks for the soapbox lads! Keep em sharp 8Knots

 

As many who lurk around these parts will know, I am a student at Westlawn - and have been for over 2 years - so I have no personal knowledge of YDS, nothing to gain or lose by making comment.

Sara - the vast majority of YDS who post here seem very happy with the level of service & proffessionalism provided. The suggestion from Mr McNaughton is that your work simply wasn't up to scratch. There is one very simple way for you to back up your case - post an example of your work - that way we can make our own minds up.

 

Thanks Will..... Your braver than I. What better place to learn than here? I know of many professionals here that are more than willing to help
8Knots

 

'tis true - I've learned at least as much from this forums as I have from 'elsewhere'....

 

From the YDS Director

I just checked in on this thread again, as it was mentioned by a reader. I notice that Sara has posted again. I hope people will understand that it is our view that she is "shading" things. By "partial refund" she apparently is referring to the fact that we do not refund on lessons which we have already corrected. I'm sorry but I believe that is fair. By "charged for marking that I never received" she apparently refers to two lessons which she considers "uncorrected" because she did not pass them and was required to do them over. I'm sorry but "corrected" is NOT the same as passed. If we've corrected a lesson at least once we don't refund on the lesson, just because the student has not passed. There is no additional charge for correcting lessons additional times and as Sara is well aware we will correct a lesson any number of times a student needs it. I am sure that she is correct that she "only just received my work back this week 6-8 weeks after it was supposedly mailed". However she knows perfectly well that we have explained to her over and over that our investigation shows that our air mail to Britain actually gets there in 2 to 3 days. The rest of the time is spent in customs which can take up to 3 weeks quite routinely. There is nothing we can do about this other than send things via special services which cost over $100 per lesson.

One person above suggests that she should post her work here so that she can be judged by the group. I do think that is a little unfair. She IS a student and one who has had a very tough time getting started, whether, as she believes, it is our fault, or not. It is unfair to expect her work to be ready for prime time. I'm sure in another year or so, if she sticks to it, we will see some great stuff from her.

I note that she says she is "incredibly pleased" with her new school and I trust that she will do well. We are sad that we were not able to be a good match for her, despite our best efforts. We hope that she will continue to be happy with her new school and have a wonderful time. This study requires a lot of hard work and mental flexiblity but it should be possible to keep it fun.

As I mentioned before Sara is the second person to quit the school expressing unhappiness with us and I would be happy to put anyone in direct contact with both these students. So far no one has asked. I ask that the readers of this thread look for any indications of any dissatisfied students of Yacht Design School and urge them to work with me and consult with the other students on the student list. We always want our school to be the most responsive and supportive school around.

Thomas A. MacNaughton
Yacht Design School Director
http://www.macnaughtongroup.com

 

I think it's admirable that you would come to the defense of someone who has so publicly tried to discredit you. I wasn't for a moment suggesting that Sara should post her work in order that we could all ridicule her efforts. More that she evidently feels that her work is of an acceptable quality and that you do not - the only way for those of us 'outside the loop' to make some sort of personal judgement is to take a look.
I too am a student (of another school) - and I'd happily post an example of my work - if I could only figure out how to get an AO piece of paper onto the computer screen!