Abc de Conti - Italian language school

Please reconsider attending FCAS! (note: I write with respect for every individual associated with FCAS. Despite this review, I wish to honor the personal instructors) This program is presented as a 2 month Italian Cuisine Chef Training Course that "prepares students to become professional chefs and to enter the culinary workforce in settings such as restaurants, country clubs, resorts, hotels, and many other food service opportunities." Our lessons have been anything but professional. The classes are an insult to any student with any experience in the culinary arts. And they are a scam for anyone who doesn't have experience and wants to gain skills before entering the industry. In class the students execute the mise en place while the chef does the actual cooking. We do not have the opportunity to cook, but rather just watch. The overall structure is hysterical. Ie, our class starts at 14:30 and half the students show at 14:00. Instead of waiting for the time stated on our schedule, our chef will begin the lessons when the first student shows. There is never an explanation of the menu, declaration of our goal objectives, or communication of expectations. This program is in no way preparing one for the industry. More so, there is a lack of respect for each student. Over the past 2 years, I have worked as a pastry chef, executive chef and personal chef. Of course we are not cooking for clients, so the structure and energy of the lesson implies that the end goal is to eat the food, and this feels like we are a bunch of tourists just trying to get our fix of Italian cuisine, rather than artists honing our culinary skills. Yet we don't even take our dining seriously. We stand around the prep tables and eat, rather than cultivated the art of plating well, or setting tables. If the end goal is to eat the food, we do not even have the dignity of sitting down, savoring the food, comparing notes, learning about the wine, etc. I do not understand the lack of order, deliberation and respect for the art and the artist. While I have many other concerns, I have to keep it short due to the word count limit. 1) the kitchen is under stocked -- broken utensils, rusting knives, bent boards & pans, etc. Often we have to improvise with the tools we are using. It is a great way to learn to adapt, but it does looks cheap, desperate and lazy. 2) my apartment provided by FCAS was filthy. There was food on the counters & stove, grease covering the entire kitchen, gnats in the refrigerator, pubic hair on the bathroom floor, grime in the shower and rotting towels in the kitchen. They've refused to reimburse me for housing. A simple solution on their part would have been to merely hire someone to clean the apartment. 3) we have 2 professors for our language class. Miss Marianna has been wonderful, exactly what you need for an intensive language course. Hard, but good. Fast paced, but respectful of each student's level. Mr. Marco on the other hand is incapable of teaching a good class. It has taken him over three hours to explain singular vs plural articles. We do homework as a part of class, which is a total waste of time. Every english speaker has directly written Carlo, the admissions advisor, expressing our concerns and needs. And he has failed to provide a new instructor, The immediate problem is that the school it is run from Japan (the long distance management causes little comprehension from administration of what the classes actually look like and I am unclear as to who is in charge - Carlo refuses to forward me to the program director's info), the instructors are privately contracted (few, if any, objectives and requirements are communicated between the instructors and management), and they do not actually care for their students. Their "customer" service replicates an abusive relationship -- promising something and yet unaccompanied by any action. I truly wish them the best! Readers, please don't hesitate to comment below.