The design of Mentor/Apprenticeship vs Institutional Student/Teacher Dynamics

[m1469]

I don't know very much about the design of mentor and apprenticeship and I can't say that I know *tons* about the dynamics of Institutional relationships, either.  My primary, direct teacher/student influences and experiences have been of the latter "category" and so I know my own personal experience with that, but I can't say that I know in general how it works or what it is designed for.  Overall, I think I feel a bit underwhelmed with Institutional learning; it seems there is just something .... missing or imbalanced or something that I can't quite put my finger on.

When I first started in Uni, I suspect that what I was really looking for was more along the lines of my (feable) concept of apprenticeship, and I wanted a mentor -- similar to what my idea has been of a how a martial artist would be cultivated.

I am just curious, though -- What's the difference ?

I think it would depend on how seriously each teacher/mentor takes his/her job, whether they were in institution or not, and how much effort and time they are willing to put into what they do and the individuals they are mentoring.

It seems that there are masses of people that move through institutions, and many of those people are not expected to continue on in music/piano (whatever the "field of study" may be), so the purpose of the course of learning must be different, it would seem.  Whereas with genuine apprenticeship, the apprentice is fully expected to continue on in this endeavor and perhaps learns more of a trade or craft or .... ? ... in the course of learning.

Well, some preliminary thoughts anyway.  What do you think ?

[jakev2.0]

Why not just learn from someone who can teach?

[m1469]

uh ... so what's the difference between mentor/apprencticeship vs institutional student/teacher ? 

[jakev2.0]

From the perspective of a student, the only things that matter are 1) quality of pedagogy and 2) price. Rest seems to be a nonsensical semantics debate. 

[m1469]

ha ha ... so, what's the difference in the design of an institution with teacher/student relations, and the design of mentor/apprenticeship as would be found in "old school" dojos, for example ?

[jakev2.0]

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[m1469]

ha ha ... if that were realistic, their blindfolds would have fallen off