"Education is a disaster"

[nailstudiofame]

Is education really a disaster in the US? (see below comments published at a site in Sweden)
I was under the impression that the US had some of the best educations in the world?
The cradle of of nails …
However, as you can see, the person who wrote that works for LE …

Everybody out there, is it really that bad?
(for your information, there are a lot of schools in Sweden that are really bad …)

Nancy


Celina Rydén
The most common thing I hear from my students in the United States is that their education is a disaster. In principle, they only learn how to not be sued by their customers and then thrown into the nail world and can hardly even build a nail (of course, this does not apply to all schools in the United States and this I base on all the years I met and talked with American NT's). Light Elegance in the United States has followed the Swedish model and runs LE University both online and in classrooms where you go through everything from scratch. Really well-educated education and when the therapists are done there, they are like Swedish students when they are trained. They hunger for more knowledge and really look forward to Swedish nail training.

 

[BobSweden]

I am a little confused what is meant by the "Swedish model" - despite the fact that our head office is located in Stockhoim and we have been in the market there since 2009. Before this we were the first nail school to introduce Russian nail art (which was pooh-poohed by most of the distributors there originally).

Sweden did not invent comprehensive nail education - personally, I would attribute that to pioneers such as CND, OPI, NSI and Ez Flow. Milady's in the US published the first comprehensive nail education book - "Milady Standard Nail Technology" that is now in its 7th edition. Our dear friend Vicki Peters was a major contributor to this.

Where Sweden is different, is that two organisations SANSA and SEYF allow nail schools to apply for accreditation. This means following a standard syllabus and providing teacher-led training for a minimum of 145 hours. Generally, this does produce a capable level of NT who has practical skills and theoretical knowledge, that is higher than in other EU countries. The limitation, IMO, is that the examinations are usually conducted by the school and not an independent examiner - but that is the case in most countries.

However, there are schools in Sweden who choose not to be accredited, who offer shorter/cheaper classes.

I can't comment on the US, having no first hand experience. As far as I know, many States require you to train as a Cosmetologist and that requires in the range of 400 hours of study. The general impression that I have from reading comments, is that often these schools don't include a dedicated or knowledgeable nail educator and that additional education after school is highly recommended.

 

[BobSweden]

I would also add that the ability to produce a beautiful nail or create wonderful nail art has no bearing on a persons theoretical knowledge! We only have to look at many of those who have huge Insta followers to see evidence of poor basic techniques, such as product coming into skin contact.

 

[SarahNails25]

I am from US but I can only say what I see when I was in school I finish school not recent so I do not know if they change some things even in same school I went.
I think my school was good and give us everything we need to know about nails.
Anatomy basic chemistry about how product is working things to look for like nail sickness or damage was given to us but I think the problem is many student just do the school to finish and forget this lessons fast and only remember how you say “how not get sued” because it is most important to them not to get sued. In America it is scary as there is culture of sue for anything happen wrong to you back in my home country is not like this so I do understand this fear.
I think yes will change experience which school you go and what kind teacher you have if they are very good for teaching or not not everybody has skill to be good teacher even if they are good nail technician.
It is true that in the test to get license most question is about such health and safety not get sued type knowledge and I think my practical tests I think was given easy because my nail was not beautiful but was good enough to pass. My teacher also did not push to make perfect nail but passable nail that look ok and will not fall off model. I think maybe they think we will give you what you need know but is your responsibility to practice and get perfect on yourself.