First of all......don't panic.......

I have done hair over 20 years and still get the woozies.  You can never learn enough. School is just a basic driving course, and to be honest most schools should not be open.  I learned alot of my info from watching DVDS AND reading books. Find a salon that is willing to help you. If they have that "diva" syndrome, or "I am better than all of you" attitude---RUN!  A good salon enriches all who work for it. Good Luck!

I found a job! I didn't have to go very far! I am going to be an instructor at my school when I graduate! I grad in a few days and begin employment on the 25th! Yay! Thanks for all the kind words ladies and gents!

I'm sorry folks, but this is just the type of thing that I have been complaining about here for years...How can someone teach what they cannot do? The idea that someone is going to teach a new generation of hairstylists how to be sucessful in this trade without themselves ever having worked in a salon, had a clientele or faced any of the difficulties of the salon life strikes me as a cruel joke on all of us who toil in the workplace. It's a sad and sorry state of affairs that cannot be anything but unhealthy for this trade.

This person admits to being terrified and of lacking skills...is this who we want teaching our young people?

What other occupation allows those who have never been in the field to teach it? It's absolutely preposterous. How can somebody who has never done something possibly understand how it's done? How can they be an inspiration to newcomers? There should be a law that prevents anyone teaching a skill until they have actually been actively working in that field for a minimum of 2 years.

Agreed.

While most states require the licensed cosmetologist or instructor cosmetologist to complete a certain number of clock hours in continued education before renewal of his/her license, it's sad that the student licensee can go straight from student to instructor without ever having to spend time in a real salon.

However, it's a known fact that beauty schools don't teach the student how to be successful in the field. They teach the absolute bare minimum, basic requirements to pass the state boards. And sadly, a student who has demonstrated that ability by passing his/her state board is qualified in the eyes of their respective state board to teach that accomplishment to other students.

On that note, I can't think of any school that teaches students to be prepared for success in the real working world. I work at a law firm, and neither partner will hire a paralegal graduate fresh out of college. Why? No real life work experience as a paralegal.

Remember, school is a controlled environment. The workplace is not.

"The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."
Winston Churchill

I think the school hiring you to teach is the one to blame here. You(cutting4kicks) are simply taking advantage of an offer that appeals to you.

If I were a student paying thousands of dollars for my education, I would be a little leery of someone teaching me a skill they never took the time to perfect. To me it would be like a senior in high school going back to teach the previous juniors. Nobody will take you seriously.

Dear Valley-

What a great post.  I do not know a whole lot about the JPMS schools, but I just loved the way that you looked at this situation from all angles.  Great thought process.  You can be trained by experts to be a great teacher.  You never learn any bad habits that way.  I applaud you girl   From JPMS reputation, they would not do it any other way.  Thank you for going there. 

You do not just become and instructor.  You have to first get your liscence - then you have to go back and clock in instructor hours.  You work under the supervision of the instructors.  That is after they offer you the job.  They had to see something in her before they offered her the job.  She would then prepare as she clocked in the hours for her instructor liscence.  She does not get paid for this time. (at least that is the way it is here in TN).

Good luck.

Cindy Farr Hester  Asst Moderator

I went to a Paul Mitchell school, and had great respect for the educators. I also had one of them mess up my color....horrible...bleeds everwhere. I found out later that the "instructor" had only had her license for 6 months.

My point is, why should they take you seriously. Say you have a mess up, even with all of that JPMS training, would you be confident enough to fix it?  These are things that you only learn through experience in the salon.

I am sure you can learn them along the way in your comfy teaching career, but is it really fair to the other students who are looking to you to teach them?

just remember this

the more you know,

the more you know what you don't know

i graduated from Paul Mitchell the school in Costa Mesa, CA, a few years back.  i paid a ton of money to go there, now they charge even more.  while i was fairly fortunate to have educators that had actually been in salons for years, i know that they started training some students right after they graduated to go into education at the school. our class thought it was kind of funny that students graduating a few classes before us were going to be teachers.   

i agree with the posts above that teachers should have actual salon experience.  after school i became an assistant and now am doing color at an awesome salon. i loved my beauty school and had an amazing experience, however, i would advise anyone attending any beauty school to inquire about the instructors backgrounds, work experience, etc.  its amazing how much you learn when you actually work in a salon!