permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>]

On 8/18/05 5:39 PM, "Arina Pittman" <arina@ecoversity.org> wrote:

> I assumed it was part of pc ethics, that teacher waives his/her fee.... the
> rest of cost must be still paid for (food, lodging, advertisement, handouts,
> etc). The idea sounds consistent with the ethics - if the class is full, why
> not allow someone to sit on, pay for ALL other expenses and refresh the
> memory. The third ethic - share of surplus.
> 
> The main question is: is this rule upheld by the pc community at large or on
> a voluntary basis? Is it or is it not part of the conduct in pc world?


I have heard of the "free" system from a few people, but I've never seen it
written anywhere, which is the indicator of a true policy. Seems to me Tom
Ward mentioned it at the first PDC I took. When I took another PDC from
Scott and Bill in '95, I wasn't offered this, nor did I expect it. I have
occasionally had former students return to audit courses, but they are
expected to pay for lodging, food, course supplies, etc. I would not expect
another instructor to give a free course to one of my former students, but
I'd be happy to work something out for one of my returning students. My
feeling is, it's up to the individual instructor (just as offering
subscriptions to Permaculture Activist or Pc Magazine to PDC students is
also a tradition, but an optional one).

Toby
www.patternliteracy.com