In the process of your enrollment, selecting your mentor, counseling you throughout your
apprenticeship and all the highs and lows, we always ask ourselves: “What would be in the best interest of the student/apprentice?”

Everything must conform to that interest, to that principle – what serves the best interest of the student/apprentice, which is almost always, if faithfully followed, to the company's financial disadvantage.

The cornerstone of this stance “in the best interest of” can be summed up as “one on one training, as much as possible by a virgin instructor” - meaning just what it sounds like - someone who has never taught for us before. He or she may have taught at some local colleges, but not one-on-one for us. This policy requires that we literally contract with a new instructor (never to be used again) for each new student apprentice.

The strict adherence to this principle flies in the face of the outward desires of the parties involved. Desires that are based on the traditional classroom/lecture-by-professor, group interaction/camaraderie/competition with fellow students scenario. It's the standard. It's familiar, therefore considered safe. And it's cost-effective for the school.

Here's a perfect example. It would be much more profitable to line up each of our apprentices with our man in town that we line up everyone with. That would be a huge financial advantage. We could make a deal with someone in town to take all of our applicants, advertise heavily and bring them 20 apprentices a year. Now instead of $300 – 500 per month, the studio is making $10,000 per month, plus they have free labor. That would seem to be a good deal for the us. No need to talk 20 mentors into doing this. A good deal for the teacher (not a personal mentor) in this hypothetical case, who by receiving $10,000 per month could be expected to be our sales agent, talking people into doing this, rather than trying to talk people out of it. (Mentors almost always try to talk their candidate out of it to test their determination.)

This is called stacking students and there are other organizations (de facto schools) who do this. In their defense they would argue that that kind of training is still better than a school, and they'd be right. But only slightly better.

The Apprentice-Mentor Association's principles and policies are based on the question:
“Is it in the best interest of the 20 apprentices?” To run them all through one facility? The answer is clearly, NO.

We strive for excellence over profits.

One of the first things that a pure-profit minded organization would do is to routinely reach back and use the same instructor used last year. And from there it's a small step to giving that instructor two students at a time, then three… and then four…

Our goal is fulfillment of your goals. It won't be overnight, but it can and does happen. With motivation and tenacity (and yes, a little luck always helps) it's do-able. With personalized training and individual attention from your own mentor, it's within reach. It is far less likely to happen if you are just one of another long series of students.

The basis of this program is its one-on-one nature. Maintaining that principle is essential to its integrity.