I went there [the Northgate branch in Seattle, WA] in 2017/2018, i.e. pre-covid and online…read morelearning. And everything was hands-on. We had three teachers in total, one for each semester, and about 4 giant books that we needed a backpack to carry to school everyday, we were asked. Classes were 4 hrs a day and stacked with assignments, lectures, and practical/lab work. I remember really enjoying Instructor Maya Harer and the Rastafarian Mathematics guy. But in our second semester, a lady called Betty came in. She was not a bad teacher, although her politics was questionable at best [delighted in telling us how a woman who sued for her right to abort a damaged fetus died from a horrible car accident. "Karma," she quipped, "is a bitch"]. Still, it was her extra carricular activity that makes one wonder if she should be allowed to teach, let alone grade.
We had a classmate, lovely gay kid from somewhere south. He referred to black people as "our colored neighbours" and believed everything he heard on Fox news, which his boyfriend was really into. So one time, while we were discussing the use or perfumes and body lotions in a clinic setting, where patients with asthma and allergies to smells come, he complained how he was chastised for telling an Indian co-worker that he smells. He continued by talking about how he doesnt think Indians take a shower due to a cultural thing and how the food they eat stinks etc. At which point I raised a hand and objected, saying one Indian co-worker can hardly represent a country of almost a billion people, and that we should try not to judge people by our limited experience. Betty was mad at my objection. She thought, from what I later inderstood, that I was picking on a naive gay kid. So had me called to her office and told me she has been told that I was spreading some rumor about a classmate at lunch. I was so terrified at the accusation that I started crying, demanded that she brings the accuser to me and have them tell me what I said to my face, and asked..begged her to atleast tell me what the rumor was. Refusing to even look me in the eye, she said never to mind but to watch what I say in classroom and outside. "We are here to build one another, not to tear each other down". It took about 4 months of consisent hard work and proving myself in word and deed for her to like me, treat me as one of her students, and even praise me in the hearing of other teachers as an examplary studenr. It is fortunate that I was told I would forefit my pay when I asked if I would be allowed to drop out at that point because I truly love the career I got from it and wont trade my first American school life for nothing. But it was the most painful experience I had while it lasted. Knowing someone I spent 4 hrs a day with, someone who can fail me at will and bring my hard work to naugjt, had it in for me. To be disliked and discriminated againt on behalf of a cause I was in solidarity with.
The other thing I remember is some drama between two of the female teachers. The husband of one was enrolled in an MA course, and wasnt doing great. So the other instructor failed him one of the courses. When people asked him what happened, he used to tell them all the problem this teacher was having in her own marriage, etc, which I thought was a very weak..immature response. There was also a male instructor, Gene, that I really liked taking some courses from. Funny guy. Heard he got fired for something or other years later.
Still, great place. I would advise you to go for it 100%.
