Kid's lessons with no results and no refunds

[Just Blue]

I believe anyone can learn how to swim (assuming a person without ADA), this is like walking or running, etc.

And to be a singer you have to have a good voice and ear that is given by nature and can be improved with proper lessons. But if you have a bad ear or horrible voice, thus no lessons will help.

These 2 are not the same.
Again, my child has a swimming attitude, they do not have proper techniques.

If you are such an expert on techniques why are you not teaching your child to swim?

 

[Ohiogal]

I believe anyone can learn how to swim (assuming a person without ADA), this is like walking or running, etc.

And to be a singer you have to have a good voice and ear that is given by nature and can be improved with proper lessons. But if you have a bad ear or horrible voice, thus no lessons will help.

These 2 are not the same.
Again, my child has a swimming attitude, they do not have proper techniques.

How do you know your child has a swimming attitude? I took swimming lessons as a child... learned SQUAT. Didn't learn until I was a teenager.

 

[NeilTheCop]

They gave us all swimming lessons at school, and to this day I still swim like a brick.
Walking and running are normal activities for our species, swimming is not as we are not aquatic mammals, so no it's not automatic that we can all be taught to swim.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I would hope when a person goes to swim lessons, the result should be a swimming skills. I did not expect to gain nothing, but just pay.

I am a former swim instructor (Red Cross certified WSI).

If you brought your child to swim lessons, and the instructor(s) attempted to teach him, then they have earned their fee.

You may both be correct: their teaching methods may be incompatible with your child's temperament and skill set at this point in time, and the only option, if you wish your child to learn how to swim, would be to go elsewhere.

There is an expensive swim school in my community, but I from what I've heard from other parents as they gushed about the place, their pedagogical style is contrary to what I was taught. Our local recreation department offers more affordable lessons at the beach - like, $15 for 10 half hour lessons when my kid was 6, and bonus: their instructors are Red Cross certified. I saw first hand a 9 year old child who was completely traumatized at the idea of swimming after the expensive program come to the recreation department's beach program and in 2 weeks transform into happily playing in the water and passing level 1.

My suggestion: find a program that fits your child. Your child currently needs a program that practices gradual water acclimation and learning through play. You can help by having your child practice skills at home - playfully.

Clarification: is your child afraid of the water, or simply unmotivated.

 

[bad_swimmer]

The child loves the lessons, but they are just dragging the kid back and forward....

I am sorry I will not be replying about my kid & lakes. I am interested about the issue with $500 spent and no results.

 

[Just Blue]

I am a former swim instructor (Red Cross certified WSI).

If you brought your child to swim lessons, and the instructor(s) attempted to teach him, then they have earned their fee.

You may both be correct: their teaching methods may be incompatible with your child's temperament and skill set at this point in time, and the only option, if you wish your child to learn how to swim, would be to go elsewhere.

There is an expensive swim school in my community, but I from what I've heard from other parents as they gushed about the place, their pedagogical style is contrary to what I was taught. Our local recreation department offers more affordable lessons at the beach - like, $15 for 10 half hour lessons when my kid was 6, and bonus: their instructors are Red Cross certified. I saw first hand a 9 year old child who was completely traumatized at the idea of swimming after the expensive program come to the recreation department's beach program and in 2 weeks transform into happily playing in the water and passing level 1.

My suggestion: find a program that fits your child. Your child currently needs a program that practices gradual water acclimation and learning through play. You can help by having your child practice skills at home - playfully.

Clarification: is your child afraid of the water, or simply unmotivated.

Can you just toss them in the deep end and say "Swim to me if you wish to live"?

 

[Just Blue]

I am sorry I will not be replying about my kid & lakes. I am interested about the issue with $500 spent and no results.

You were advised. Try and sue. You likely will lose.

 

[cbg]

The service was provided; your child was provided with swimming lessons. There was no guarantee of results and refunds are expressly stated as not being an option. You have no legal basis on which to sue.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I am sorry I will not be replying about my kid & lakes. I am interested about the issue with $500 spent and no results.

Fair enough. I hate lakes. My kid only knows how to swim in salt water.

I took my kid to dance lessons. For the first 2 classes she refused to join the class at all and sat on my lap. For the 3rd class I left the room and she stared at the door crying. There was no dancing, no skills acquired. I did not consider asking for a refund.

My kid has now been taking dance classes for several years. I have observed that there are some kids who no matter how many days a week they take classes just do not progress. My kid has progressed, so the teacher must be doing something. Why should the teacher have to refund their money if she has done her job? She shouldn't and doesn't.

Over 80% of the kids at my kid's school scored below "proficient" on the NY state ELA exams, meaning they can't read at their grade level. Should the teachers lose proportionally their pay for all the kids that can't read well? NO. Because the teachers did their job. The kids and their parents didn't. I know the teachers did their job because my kid was in the same classroom and learned the material.

YOU HAVE NO CASE. The kid went to class. The instructor attempted to teach him. For whatever reason, he was unreceptive. That's your fault, not the instructors. You chose a program that is a poor match for your child.

 

[Zigner]

I believe anyone can learn how to swim (assuming a person without ADA), this is like walking or running, etc.

Must suck to be legless, huh? Oh, wait: http://mentalfloss.com/article/18780/swimming-without-legs-3-inspiring-athletes
The point, though, is that not EVERYONE has the skill to do EVERYTHING. Furthermore, it's entirely possible that the teaching style at the school you took your kid to doesn't match your child's learning style.

And to be a singer you have to have a good voice and ear that is given by nature and can be improved with proper lessons. But if you have a bad ear or horrible voice, thus no lessons will help.

Similar to the fact that some people just don't have the coordination to learn to swim.

These 2 are not the same.

They are more alike than you realize.

Again, my child has a swimming attitude, they do not have proper techniques.

As a kid, I loved to roller skate. I'd spend hours at the skating rink, including some lessons. You know what? I sucked. Sure, I could go forward pretty decently, but I couldn't skate backwards if my life depended on it.
As a youth, I LOVED baseball. I was pretty good at it, too. However, I wasn't great, and no amount of teaching was going to make me great. My throwing skills just weren't were they needed to be. By high school, I had to give it up.

 

[cbg]

My husband teaches political science at the college level. He must be doing something right because most of his students get good grades in his class. Every once in a while there's someone who fails the class, and he in turn feels like a failure. As I remind him then, It is the teacher's job to present the material. It is the student's job to learn it.

I went to teacher's college. Pretty much the first thing you learn on the first day of school is that not every child is able to learn by the same method. That is not the teacher's fault; that is the fault of whatever combination of genes and chromosomes determines the best way for the child to learn. Every child learns differently. The teacher presented the material; the student failed to learn. That's not the fault of the teacher, the school or the child (as long as the child made an attempt). It doesn't give you the legal right to a refund. If it's anyone's fault (and I'm not saying it is, but you seem to want there to be fault somewhere so I'm giving it to you) it's yours, for not matching up the school's teaching methods with your child's method of learning before you paid out the money.

 

[bad_swimmer]

I should have mentioned they did not teach any of the kids that were swimming in the same group with my kid.

 

[Zigner]

I should have mentioned they did not teach any of the kids that were swimming in the same group with my kid.

Nah, there was no reason. The simple fact is that you paid for swim lessons for your daughter and your daughter got swim lessons.

 

[xylene]

I believe anyone can learn how to swim

Apparently not.

I mean this isn't going to be the last time an educational experience does not work as intended for your child. If you expect certain results, see that certain metrics are contractually guaranteed. And expect to pay more than 500 bucks.

Honestly you are going to give your kid a complex. Just try a different program.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I should have mentioned they did not teach any of the kids that were swimming in the same group with my kid.

I'm really trying to understand here: what were your expectations?

Your kid started out in a beginner swim class. What skills were you expecting the kid to master, and how quickly?
Has the kid learned how to blow bubbles? That's a skill.
Has the kid learned how to float on his back? That's a VERY important skill.
Has the kid learned how to put his face in the water? That's a skill.
Has the kid learned how to use a kickboard and kick his way around the pool? That's a skill.

Were you expecting him to swim laps and join a swim team? That requires not only swimming skills but endurance.

I will also add that until a child is developmentally ready to swim, they simply will not swim.
I know for myself, that in spite of swim classes as a preschooler, I did not swim until one day, I was watching my mother do laps, and decided that I could do that, and just did it. Prior to that moment, I did not so much as do the dog paddle. I was 5-6 years old.
I observed the same thing while teaching swim lessons. Most children simply could not focus on anything but play until around 5-6, and as a result didn't learn much in the way of proper swimming until then.

I strongly suspect that your child learned something about water in those lessons. I would be more concerned if you said that the kid was terrified of the water and they just continued tossing the kid in, or shoving the kids head underwater.

But either way, the kid took the lessons, the instructor's time is worth something.

P.S. If you try taking the swim school to court and display half the attitude that you have here. with the same amount of "facts", you should count on not just losing, but having any non-absurd counterclaim granted.