Warning, possible shill alert...

> Here we go again. I am at least happy that this site allows responses to
> the irresponsible.

Sure, we even allow shills, sock puppets, and stealth supporters to stand on the soapbox. But they get examined very carefully. Are you ready?

> Linda Christas has been around for a long while, first as a corporate
> training entity and then school and PAC. They are listed with the BBB, AND
> all of their teachers are state credentialed.

They had better be.

> I am a parent of a student taking courses through Linda Christas. I am
> also a member of their PTA.

Ummmm, but you left out one important fact. In the spirit of full disclosure, let's see what you wrote last summer:

"Jean Weatherford Jul 6 2004, 7:01 am
Newsgroups: alt.education.alternative
From: jeanweatherf...@yahoo.com (Jean Weatherford)
Date: 6 Jul 2004 07:01:04 -0700
Subject: Linda Christas: Advisor Support Response

As a relatively new Advisor, I certainly don't have the full picture,
but I wanted to add my opinion to the bunch.

I was one of those people who really had to just try the Academic
Advisory position on a transition basis, really not risking anything
other than my sweat (enthusiasm).

I kept my job as a computer programmer while taking the Advisory
course and throughout the field practice.

That took a lot of the pressure off for me. The School never put any
pressure on me. But, I am the kind of person who worries.

Linda Christas, I think, has struck just the right balance between
lack of support and smothering support.

They did and are doing everything I have asked to help me get the
people in my community awake to the educational needs of our kids.

I have only been holding Linda Christas interviews for about four
months, but already I am more successful as an Advisor (financially
and emotionally) than I ever was in my eighteen years as a programmer.

When all is said though, I suppose everything depends on how paralyzed
someone is when she realizes that in this Country business owners both
reap the most rewards and, at the same time, don't have a desk to sit
at that someone else has chosen.

But, I like it a lot. I have time for my kids..... for my life
really.....for the first time as an adult.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Otto Benchley who wrote a review on
this site.

He has always been straight with me, and very kind.

And, he has made sure that every support allowed by the law for me as
an independent has been provided by Linda Christas.

As a result, I don't ever expect to do anything else in terms of
career.

Thanks from me and my family, Otto.

Jean Weatherford, Academic Advisor "

So, Jean - you're one of their "Advisors" and you hold Linda Christas interviews? What is it exactly that "Holding an interview" pays you for that's better than being a programmer? Does that money come from hopeful teacher-applicants?

What ratio of applicants ever make it into full-time employment as teachers?

Why did you try to make us think your involvement with the school was as a parent and member of their PTA, and not as a contractor/agent/or employee?

Why could you not feel it was a good thing to be straight with us?

Is it any coincidence you're posting from the Sacramento area, which is where Linda Christas HQ is located?

> I can only say that people like Pat Boone and Efrem Zimbalist have
> personally accepted the chairs that are displayed on the web.

Yeah, send me a free chair and I'd take it, too. Costs less than shipping it back. :-)

> My child is doing just fabulously well. For the first time, professional
> teachers are building curriculum around her interests, aptitudes, skill
> levels and learning style rather than adopting across the board curriculum
> and imposing that on her in groups segregated by age.

Great. I'm sincerely happy your own child is doing well. You might have succeeded at home schooling also, but that doesn't involve an income better than being a programmer.

> I see that no one on this site who actually has a child in the School has
> anything to say. What I am seeing are people who seemingly spend a lot of
> their time in some degree of darkness.

Let the ad hominem attacks begin, along with the motivational examinations. But it goes both ways, Jean.

> It's strange: Question: What do Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Mother
> Teresa, Linda Christas, Jesus, Mohammed, Paramahansa Yogananda and the
> Archbishop of Caterbury have in common?: Answer: They have all been mocked
> at one time or another by sad people who really need help with personal
> identity issues. I know that Linda Christas counselors could help these
> individuals.

And your cut of that would be, how much?

> Thanks again for allowing me to express my opinion here. At least I have a
> student involved with the School, so I have some actual knowledge of this
> wonderful group.