Warning National Marine Correspondents School

[Napoleon]

Any reader considering taking a course at the National Marine Correspondents School should heed this warning.

I started to take the Ocean Navigation Course with them (At a cost of 950 odd quid) and was very displeased with both the materials and the service. Let me explain:
I received two boxes containing a selection of identical looking booklets, all of which were very bad black and white photocopies. You know the kind done on a really old copier with the darkness turned right up so can't really see any contrasts in pictures. In fact some of the illustrations were so bad it was kind of difficult to see what it's supposed to be a picture of. There were no photographs and certainly nothing was in colour.
Anyway at this point I really should have sent them back but as I currently live in Tokyo and I really wanted to master navigation I tried to start the course. That was when I encountered the second problem. The materials are extremely poorly written, I imagine that the person who wrote them understood what he was talking about but didn't have the ability to pass it on in a concise and understandable way. Being a teacher for 15 years myself perhaps makes it easier for me to spot really poorly written and edited materials and believe me people these are up there with some of the worst I've seen.
Anyway I thought as I've only been sent half of the materials I could be refunded for half of the course. I hadn't even contacted a tutor or had any contact at all with the school as I couldn't even finish the first assignments, so poor was the quality of the media and presentation.
I sent an E-mail to the school very reasonably requesting a refund of half of the fee plus the fee for the RYA exams which naturally I hadn't taken.
The schools reply is shown below:
Mr Mannering

If you would like a replacement copy of our terms and conditions we will be happy to send you one.

Regards

Rob Stott
National Marine Correspondence School
30 Woodside Business Park
Birkenhead+44 (0)151-647 6777

In closing I strongly recommend that anyone considering this school think again, and if you absolutely must at least ask for inspection copies of the first few booklets so that you can see just how bad they are.
Napoleon Mannering

 

[Tim_Bennett]

I can only assume this 'Warning' is a spoof for reasons best known to the author. I completed the Ocean Cruising Course with NMCS a year ago and cannot praise the school enough. The protean reference material is comprehensive, easy to understand and well laid out (not in colour, admittedly, but entirely acceptable at the price). The assignments were returned quickly to me having been marked with diligence and attention to detail. Although I have now finished the course, the material serves as a complete encyclopedia for all matters nautical. As an 'elapsed' Master Mariner who set out out to refamiliarise myself with nautical science and brush up my sailing knowledge in the process, I consider myself adequately qualified to assess the quality of the 'Ocean Cruising' Course.
Napoleon Mannering claims to be a teacher in Tokyo - hopefully not an English teacher as, with due respect, his spelling, tone and syntax are apalling.
Tim Bennett

 

[incognito]

What a pity you had to spoil things with your first sentence and last para.

It is quite proper that you should post counter-information, assuming it to be truthful.

Attacking the character of someone whose experience is different to your own is not acceptable.

We readers, at the end of the day, will take on board postings which relate good and bad performance. We also have to decide on the likely truth of what we see.

 

[jimi]

I did my yachtmaster theory by correspondence course with them and thought their coverage excellent with first class feedback both in timing & content.

 

[Jacket]

I agree that attacking someones character is wrong, but it seems to me that 'Napoleon Mannering' (Someone's been watching too much dad's army) is going out of his way too attack the National Marine Correspondents School. After all, he only became a member on Friday, and then posts this message on all the Forums. Odd that no-one else seems to agree with him, if they really are as bad as he suggests.

Maybe I'm being too suspicious, in which case I appologise to Napoleon.

 

[bedouin]

I can't be bothered to respond in detail to such an obviously biased posting. I completed an NMCS course a couple of years ago and found the quality of the course material to be excellent.

The quality of the written english is certainly better than that demonstrated by 'Napoleon' in his post - so you have to question whether he is qualified to judge!

 

[Guest]

I wonder if you mean The National
Marine Correspondence School? The school you are writing about sounds like it runs courses for yachting journalists!

 

[Guest]

I found the tutors helpful, and the material comprehensive on the y/m theory.

If the quality of the print is unacceptable, it might be an idea to send it back, and ask for a replacement.

Regards,
Jim

 

[Guest]

A first-class correspondenCE school

I signed up for the coastal cruising course and found the materials and support first-class. It is by no means cheap, but the material is clear and comprehensive.

Unfortunately, as a result of being too thick, too slow and having had other problems not related to the course, I have not been able to complete it within the extremely generous time limit.

I will nevertheless be given all the materials to complete the course and plan to use the expertise of this forum's august contributors as a replacement for the support of the course tutor (mine was Rob Stott).

I would have no hesitation in recommending this school to anybody whose work patterns rule out formal classes. Its coverage goes above and beyond what is required by the RYA qualifications, which I think can only be a good thing.

One note of caution: you have to have personal discipline. While NMCS will support you, it does not breathe down your neck or cajole you into studying.

 

[incognito]

Boney, the ball is back with you.

Well, Napoleon, there you have it.

It seems your experience was a bit of a one-off, and that maybe you got the equivalent of a Monday Car. Perhaps your letter returning the material was abrasive or offensive and your reply from NMCS was appropriate. Perhaps, again, taking a constructive view -sending your poor quality materials back and asking them to replace with more legible would be the right thing to to.

Interested to hear how you get on....

 

[Tim_Bennett]

Sorry Incognito if I offended you with my lack of tact. I guess I've been yellow carded for expressing my opinion about Napoleon's scathing attack on a business which, judging by all the other testimonies, wholeheartedly benefits the yachting community. Do you also intend to yellow card Napoleon for the comments he made which could put NMCS out of business?

 

[Napoleon]

Tim\'s grammar problems

Dear Tim
I am indeed an English teacher and was somewhat surprised by your comments concerning my mastery of the English language, especially when one turns an eye to your own rather inept fumblings.
You seem to be mistaking the prepositions 'of' and 'for', see 'encyclopedia for all matters nautical', not really an error a native speaker should be making.
Further the phrasel verb 'brush up' should be followed by the preposition 'on'. Prepositions are a real minefield for you, aren't they?
Further you appear to be having problems with the way words are ordered in an English sentence, see 'The assignments were returned quickly to me' I suggest an elipsis here removing the 'to me', but if that is too difficult why not put the 'to me' where it rightfully belongs in the sentence.
You may also want to look at your use of the relative clause 'who', I recommend a changing 'want' to present progressive wanting proceeded by a comma.
And there is more; 'refamiliarise' I believe that exists only in your personal ideolect as it doesn't seem to exist in either The Oxford or in Websters dictionary.
I believe the problems you had with my spelling arose from my using American forms, unfortunately becoming the international norm. Do you travel abroad much?
You may find an evening course useful, I believe they are offered at many colleges. See if you can find one with the title 'refamiliarizing (US spelling) myself with English grammar', alternately you could try a correspondence course.
If you are really lucky you may be able to find one with a teacher holding the same qualification as I do; an MA in Linguistics.
Your attempt is printed below for your reference.
Good Luck
Sincerly
Napoleon
I can only assume this 'Warning' is a spoof for reasons best known to the author. I completed the Ocean Cruising Course with NMCS a year ago and cannot praise the school enough. The protean reference material is comprehensive, easy to understand and well laid out (not in colour, admittedly, but entirely acceptable at the price). The assignments were returned quickly to me having been marked with diligence and attention to detail. Although I have now finished the course, the material serves as a complete encyclopedia for all matters nautical. As an 'elapsed' Master Mariner who set out out to refamiliarise myself with nautical science and brush up my sailing knowledge in the process, I consider myself adequately qualified to assess the quality of the 'Ocean Cruising' Course.
Napoleon Mannering claims to be a teacher in Tokyo - hopefully not an English teacher as, with due respect, his spelling, tone and syntax are apalling.
Tim Bennett


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Napoleon on Wed Jun 19 06:46:36 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[incognito]

See 'Boney, the ball is back with you' elsewhere in this thread.

I have no axe to grind, having nothing to do with NMCS, and I don't think Napoleon's posting will have done them any harm. If this was a legitimate gripe against a one-off failing by a fine company, then they will bear it, and avoid such one-off's...

Paraphrasing what I said before... the truth will out. Anyone who might be influenced by this thread will undoubtedly draw their own conclusions from the number and tone of the 'pro' postings.

I am not too good on quotations, but there is one about freedom of speech which goes something like: 'I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the end your right to say it'. Another one is something about 'attack the message, not the messenger'.

 

[jimi]

Re: Tim\'s grammar problems

Bloody 'ell and there wis me being daft enuff tae think language wis fur ra pupose of facilitating communication