Another one bites the dust - courses that is, or to be more precise, my participation therein........
Shame, really; I find the cost of most, if not all, the courses I am interested in, those to do with my way of life, interests, etc, prohibitive. I can't actually recall any course that I've actually gone on; I get to the "That sounds interesting" stage, find out the details and on slam the monetary brakes. I know the people who run them are in it to make money, sometimes part of their livelihood, and that they have overheads, and other costs such as insurance, but some fees are taking the proverbial if you ask me.
I was interested in attending one at a local farm, where there was a day, billed as a "course" on natural beekeeping, something I'm very interested in; as isn't often the case, this venue is onlya bout 8 miles away, so eminently do-able from a distance point of view.However, the cost is 50.00 per person. Sorry, but for a day listening to someone talking about natural beekeeping, on a farm that hasn't actually got any bees at the moment (!) to even look at, I felt that this was completely over the top, even though "lunch is included". I'll save my 50.00 and put it towards some books on the subject, or towards a new hive or the equipment to make one, and teach myself. Looking about on the net and in magazines, I see lots that I would enjoy, but at over 50.00 a pop, no thanks; maybe for several days, but not just one.
Someone once suggested the idea that people only run courses to make money; not sure I entirely agree, but it's a shame that sharing knowledge and experience has become such big business.
Thank goodness for friends, blogs and forums to learn from, I say!
6 comments:
The prices of these courses are so often prohibitive aren't they? For £50 I certainly eould expect actual bees to be involved. Part of the trouble with the courses that interest you is that many of them are fashionable at the moment. People often go on the courses to make themselves feel good and to have a nice day out rather than to learn skills.
My income is so low that I actually qualify for free courses at many local colleges. However participation in crafting classes run by colleges these days include producing diaries and filling in forms to demonstrate to whoever needs to know that you gained something from the courses, which frankly I find immensely frustrating and rather like a school child being made to complete a work book. Sadly also many so called craft classes prove to be treated as occupational therapy for people who need somewhere to go and something to do, that the craft aspect is almost secondary.
So I too can rarely attend any useful classes either. Frustrating isn't it.
to be honest I think most things you can learn from the internet or books. But what I've always liked about courses is the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends, and the incentive to keep learning (it's very easy to add those books to the Amazon wish list, but do you ever get around to actually reading them and doing that new thing?).
But yeah, the courses are expensive. Even the council ones here are hardly cheap, despite the subsidies. And yes, of course most of the people running private courses are doing it to make money - it's how most of them make their living. For example, most writers don't make enough through writing to keep as much as a cat, so they use their talents (even if they don't have any) to run courses for others who want to learn. No different to being a music or maths tutor I guess. If you have a skill there will always be people ready to pay to learn it off you.
But 50 quid for a course without bees. Hmmm. Probably better to get a book and join a chat forum of bee keepers online lol!
Maybe I could hire my bees out to them! There's a little lightbulb moment LOL
MrsL
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LOL! Hire your bees out!
£50 is really a lot of money to pay out! I agree with the above comment - you could probably learn more about bee keeping from a couple of books and a forum than a day at a farm (that doesn't have bees - lol!)
Can't help feeling you could probably do a better course yourself mrs L!!
Ha! Watch this space, Carole ;)
MrsL
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