The Steno Life
Issue #7

We'll have 1700 StenoLife members soon. Who knew there were so many of you out there! It's a good time to be a StenoLife member. This issue of The Steno Life has some great information in it (if I do say so myself). I have an ad running in the September JCR, so make sure to check it out! As always, don't tell me about grammatical errors or typos in this newsletter - I appreciate the concern, but... If you want to contribute an article, please email me at marc@stenolife.com.

Past issues of The Steno Life - Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6

Articles in this issue -

1 - "StenoLife Live Chat With Mark Kislingbury Tonight! "
2 - "I Fought My School...And Won!"
3 - "DigitalCAT Made Simple - Learn it Now!"
4 - "The Biggest Myth About CR Schools"
5 - "Are You Worthy of That Next Speed?"
6 - "The State of SimplySteno.com!"
7 - "StenoBay Dies - RMR Prep Lives!"


StenoLife Chat With Mark Kislingbury
(back to top)

The StenoLife chat room has been busy lately - thanks in large part to Noriko! Last week we were honored to have Jason Pardikes chat with us about a new steno machine - The Gemini Piper! Tonight (Tuesday), we have writing champ, Mark Kislingbury, joining us in a chat. Chat time is 9:00 Eastern Time. To join in, just log into StenoLife.com, then click the Live Forum button. Sign in with your first name (to make it easy). See you there!


I Fought My School...And Won!
(back to top)

Many students feel that their schools are not doing enough to further their education. More importantly, many students feel they are not getting the education they were promised when they signed up. At one particular school, the students decided it was time to fight back. Although there are many steps in the process, they did win the first stage - the school was ordered to reimburse the students' tuition. Below is an interview with one of the students involved in the suit. The school name will not be mentioned, because it really doesn't matter : )

What caused the students to take action?
There were a lot of things. Our theory was taught, I guess if you can call it teaching, by another student; a student who has been in school for something like five years. Basically, she sat at the front of the class and marked off the lessons that you handed in. We learned by listening to tapes that coincided with our theory lessons, and then at the end of each lesson, we would steno the final lesson on Stentura 200s and 400s that were hooked up to Case Catalyst. The machines were in poor condition and we ended up developing a very bad habit of using the asterisk because the strokes, particularly DZ, PB, etc, would not translate. It was very frustrating. Anyway, then we would turn in those lessons and she would mark them as complete and we would move on. We did read to her and she did a good job of making us sound out the words. But that was really the extent of the instruction.

In low speed, which is basically just out of theory to 140, our instructor sat in front of the class and played tapes that communicated to our headsets over preprogrammed radio frequencies. The problem with this method of instruction was that the quality of the tapes was so poor that often times it was impossible to hear our tests, let alone pass them. The other thing that became very apparent in 120s and above, was that the material often went well over or under the five minute mark and was much faster or slower than it should have been. For example, you may be listening to a 120 take and it would sound much more like 140 or even 160. Although dictation can sound easier or harder based on content, the variation in speed was obvious, even to an untrained ear, and our low-speed instructor was well aware of and agreed with this. However, she was powerless to do much about it as she, myself, and other students had brought the issues with the transmission quality to the attention of faculty and even the director of the school on several occasions. Their response was always the same: “We’re getting new tapes. You’ve brought this to my attention; all I ask is for the opportunity to fix it.” And, “Sometimes you have to sit back and realize that maybe it’s you, maybe you just aren’t fast enough.” (I almost fell out of my chair when this was said to me.)

The low-speed instructor did try to compensate by giving more oral tests, but this was often challenged by the school. The other issue with low speed was that the instructor, who was a wonderful, caring individual, had absolutely no experience in court reporting. She had absolutely no education in court reporting. This is something she would readily admit, as she was often frustrated that she was not able to offer us more guidance.

High speed worked the same way as low speed, in terms of learning. We listened to tapes played over a radio frequency that were of the same quality as low speed, often times worse, we received some oral dictation, and some oral tests. But our primary learning and testing tool was over the radio frequencies. The instructor in high speed was a graduate of the school and has never been able to pass the state exam. I asked her on several occasions if she still practiced on her machine or if she planned to sit for the test again, and she said she thought she was pretty much going to give up trying to ever pass the state test. This was not encouraging.

There was very little additional learning material available. There were tapes that you could check out, but most were of the same poor quality as the tapes we listened to in class. I believe there were around 18 realtime stations available to all the students at the time I left. At any given time there are approximately 180 students enrolled in the program, so obviously there were not enough stations available to accommodate all of the students. The stations were also in dire need of servicing, but the school always maintained that they didn’t service them because everyone had a different preference for touch.

There were two instructors, both of which were long-time students, who knew the school-supported theory. The director of education was trained in a different theory, as was the high-speed instructor. Some of the faculty are former students of the school, none of which completed the program.

I was told when I enrolled in the night program that the program was a two and a half year program, with some students finishing in as little as a year. It was explained to me that, statistically, the program was taking around an average of four to five years, however, this was because most students pass the state test prior to completing the program and go out and work. The students that stay and graduate bring down the average. This was completely untrue. It is rare that students from this school ever pass the state exam, however, I did not know this at the time.

There were three students that I started with, actually I was in the night program for about a month and they were day students, but we started at the same time, and, despite all of the challenges of the program, made very good progress. They made it to 160 or high speed, in about 10 months. I finished my last 140 lit in just under a year. So, by all means, we were making progress and I think that is why we all stayed for so long. The problem was, and I worked almost full time the first year of school so this was a real challenge, that all my extra practice time was spent researching how to practice. There was no instruction given. We didn’t realtime after we left theory because it wasn’t part of the curriculum; we sat and listened to tapes, a speed below, two speeds at, and one speed above your current level in whatever category you were working on that day. Trust me, I asked for input, ideas, briefs, you name it, I asked for it. The reason that I became so desperate for instruction, especially in high speed, is because I had started to notice some major flaws in my writing. Basically, my notes looked the same at 120 as they did at 160 and I knew this couldn’t be normal. I could read them, but they would never translate and they weren’t right. I really, really needed help correcting this because I didn’t want it to be a future issue. The other thing that really scared me is that a lot of the 160 students had been “stuck” at 160 for well over a year. I was scared that could become me.

In high speed, I started writing briefs and other difficult words on the board because I figured if I was having trouble with these words, there was a good chance other students were also. One day another student asked the high-speed instructor if we could drill on five words a day and if she would write them on the board, especially medical terminology. She said she didn’t like to write on the board because of her bad handwriting. And that was that.

I was married in November of last year, and right before my wedding the director of education asked me to have a meeting with her. I had been in my 160s for a couple of months and had come close to passing some oral tests, but I was a little frustrated because I had passed my first 140 test in May and thought I should be seeing more progress. Now, you could argue that I was planning a wedding and maybe not giving enough attention to school at the time, however, by this time I was only working three days a week, I had over 150 hours of “extra attendance,” meaning, according to the school, which is a clock-hour school, I could miss approximately 150 hours of school before I would even tap into to my 45 allotted hours for absence. This was because school went from 8 to 1:15 p.m. and most days I stayed late until 3 or 4, sometimes even 5. Anyway, I went in and had this meeting, the only one that she had ever requested after nearly 14 months of school, and basically she asked me what I did for practice, how my attitude was, and told me to keep doing what I was doing. She also drew a timeline for me of where my progress should be according to my personal goals. And she told me the most exciting news. She pulled out a magazine where she had highlighted and made a bunch of notes and said that she had just ordered all new tapes and they would be implementing them in January. I was really excited about this because it’s hard enough to pass a test that you can hear, let alone one that you can’t.

In January of this year I was scheduled to repackage. This program is very, very expensive. I left at 18 months, and had spent more than what it cost me for four years at a public university, to earn my B.A. Anyway, I repackaged about mid-January and that same morning, the high-speed teacher, after I had again begged her to try and find out when the new tapes were coming because we still hadn’t gotten them, told me she really had no idea; it could be March or later. I carried a small outstanding balance with the school for which I signed a promissory note when I first began the program and have paid on time or early every single month since signing it, because I didn’t receive enough federal aid to cover all of my tuition, nor did I qualify for state need or federal Pell grants, because of my B.A. Anyway, I was told after completing my repacking agreement that I would need to, this is coming directly from the director of financial aid, either remit my balance in full or make monthly payments of $650 because since I was married, they felt I had the means to take care of the balance. I argued that I had maintained the terms of my promissory note and that I would be speaking to the director.

I met with the director the next day who argued with me about the balance, and I reminded him of my promissory note, the fact that I felt my education was being prolonged because of their poor quality of education, the promise of new tapes that still hadn’t arrived, the lack of instruction, etc, and basically said he would talk to the owner and see what he could do because he really like me. I walked out of his office with my promissory note and I told him that if he could change the terms of a signed agreement, then maybe I would too. (I do still pay per the terms of that note, but I was mad.)

Anyway, around November of the previous year, about ten high-speed students had left and gone to an online program. I didn’t really know most of them, I mean I didn’t start school with them or anything, but I knew who they were and I knew they left because of most of the same concerns that I was having. I pretty much kept to myself and a small group of friends at school. One girl in particular and I, have been really, really close since I transferred to the day program. She was as frustrated as I was and we had been toying with the idea of leaving, especially since these other ladies had left, and rumor was that they were really happy with the online program. We left that day. I told her what had happened and we left. We formally withdrew, I think a couple days later, but we never went back to class.
Then we went home, started going through our enrollment paperwork, and came across the agency name that oversees privately licensed vocational schools in our state, and went to work on filing a formal complaint. We also consulted with an attorney who advised us to go this route first, because it was free. I guess that leads into the next question.

What action was exactly taken?
My friend and I filed a complaint with this agency, and then an addendum to that complaint because we found out, through this agency, that similar complaints had been filed and the school had responded to their complaints with all of the same defenses. We wanted to file the addendum to try to prevent them from responding the same way they had in the past.

How many students were involved?
Initially, it was my friend and myself, then three other students filed a few months later. I think more may have filed since, but I’m not sure.

Were you still at this school (or were the other students) as you went through the process?
No. However, we could have remained enrolled and still gone through the complaint process in our state.

The other students in your school who were not involved - how did they react to all this?
I don’t know. I’m not sure that they know a complaint was filed. The school has implemented some changes since the filing of our complaint, which may have raised some suspicions, but I don’t really know that anyone outside of their administration is aware of the filing.

Did you speak with the school before taking action?
We did when we were seeking resolution the issues as they would arise. We did not notify them that we would be filing a formal complaint.

Have you had communications with the school since the judgment?
No.

What did you get in the judgment?
At this point, the school has been asked to reimburse us the full amount of our cost of tuition; however, they have appealed the determination.

How did you know how to take action?
We didn’t. When we left, we felt that we had wasted a lot of time and money, basically just to sit in their space. I don’t really know how to put it more eloquently than that. You just sit there and listen to garble and try to steno it. We called attorneys at first, explaining to each one the basis of why we felt we had a case, and once we found one that we felt would be qualified to handle an education case, and actually, I think he was recommended to my friend from another attorney, we went through all of our paperwork, literally read everything word for word, and found the information we needed and started making phone calls.

What's the next step in the process?
We wait for now. The school has requested an administrative hearing which hasn’t been scheduled yet. The law judge will make a recommendation, and that recommendation goes back to the agency and they will make a final determination based on the original determination and the law judge’s recommendation.

Has it been worth it?
I don’t believe in fighting for anything that isn’t. The bottom line is this: I was willing to pay any amount of money to be educated in court reporting. I couldn't have cared less where I received my education and what I had to pay for it as long as the end result was me as a court reporter/closed captionist. This is what I want to do with my life and I will tell you why. I hold a non-teaching English degree and I could have spent my life making decent money as a technical writer for a good company with good benefits and good retirement, etc. Life would have been fine. When I was exploring the option of going back to school, I started looking at different law schools, not because I wanted to be a lawyer; I wanted the opportunity to work for myself. This was an avenue I explored because I do enjoy the law and good debate, but most importantly, I liked that I could have my own practice. And then I got to thinking about all the hours I would have to spend away from my family building that practice, and it became less appealing. Then court reporting was suggested to me. There was income potential and time freedom and a package like that is priceless. The first and foremost thing I want to do with my life is be a wife and someday a mom and I believe that, for me, this is the field that I need to be in so that I can be successful at my two most important aspirations. I don’t want an 8 to 5 routine. It just isn’t for me. I bring this up only because I didn’t just feel like I wasn’t receiving an education that I had prepaid, the lack of guidance I needed to be educated in this field, threatened the things that are most important to me in my life. So I guess what I am trying to say is that yes, it has been worth it because this is about my whole life, not just a bad school. I’m really passionate about doing this someday. In addition, I do really like stenoing. (Most days!!)

What advice would you give to students who feel they are in the same situation you were in?
First and foremost you have to look at your own work ethic. I mean you can go to the best CR school in the country and you can go to the worst and it won’t matter if your heart isn’t in it and you aren’t trying. Yes, the school is accountable for your instruction and answering your questions and giving sufficient feedback and advice, but you, too, are responsible for being in class everyday and applying yourself. I really think that you have to look at that because a lot of the people I went to school with didn’t have regular attendance and when they were in class they would read books or sleep. Now, there were some good students who resorted to this because they couldn’t hear the dictation or whatever, what I’m talking about is coming to school and making this your primary routine when you are there.

So, that said, if you are there every day and there are things that are obviously wrong, not just that you don’t like your instructor or the person behind you stenos too loud or something like that, then my advice is most definitely to contact the agency that oversees that school’s accreditation and file a formal complaint. By not doing so, you are not only doing a disservice to yourself, but you are to doing disservice to future students and the industry of court reporting, by not holding your school accountable. This is the way my friend and I explain it to people: If you bought a car and it didn’t run and you kept taking it in and asking for it to be fixed and the dealer kept sending you home with it telling you nothing was wrong, you would want your money back because it didn’t work and it wasn’t getting you where you needed to go. Don’t sell yourself short simply because court reporting isn’t tangible until you’ve acquired your license. If it’s not working, demand for it to be fixed or seek the proper channels for reimbursement so that you can afford to go elsewhere.

The other thing I wanted to mention here is that, at least in my case, the school always made me feel like it was me, not them, who was lacking. I left there broken, literally, and terrified about starting an online program because I didn’t know if I had the aptitude required to be successful. My mom was shocked when I told her this because I’ve always done well academically and I’ve never ever questioned my intelligence or ability to learn. The thing is, is that I was surrounded by other intelligent and easily adaptable students that were struggling the same as I was, which meant one thing – it wasn’t me. I will tell you a very scary statistic that I learned after filing this complaint – in the past five years, ten people have graduated from the that school and three are working in their field six to nine months after graduation. This is a school with an enrollment well over 100 students at any given time.

The bottom line is, you know in your own heart and mind, the truth. Filing this complaint did take a lot of time and energy and at times was emotional and overwhelming. I will also warn you that at times it consumes you, sometimes with anger, sometimes with sadness, and sometimes with utter despair because the last thing any court reporting student needs is a battle with their school. But throughout this whole process I have felt the truth is the truth and as long as you tell the truth, you will prevail. (I think the other complainants are tired of hearing me say this!!) Honestly, though, we told the truth the best we could based on our experiences and it has prevailed thus far. And along those lines, one thing that some of the former complainants did that I would highly recommend future complainants stay away from, was repeat rumors; some of which we heard too, but a lot of them were baseless because they were just that, rumors. So make sure if you do file a complaint you state the facts as they are known to you and you can back them up with 110% certainty if they are challenged. And have a support network. You’ll need it.

End of Interview

When I first put out the email that I was going to have this interview, I got tons of emails telling me of school horror stories. I told everyone to just stay tuned. Now's the time I really want to hear them! Have some info you'd like to share - email it all to me at Marc@Stenolife.com. I WILL be using this information on a future project, but school names and student names will be deleted. Include as many details as possible. Thanks!


DigitalCAT Made Simple - Learn it Now!
(back to top)

When I started my SimplySteno program, I quickly decided that DigitalCAT was going to be the program I taught. It wasn't a tough decision. The price was right and the students got to use the full version of the software - not a stripped down version. And even if students decided they wanted to use some other CAT software down the line, they would still have a good idea of the basics if they learned DigitalCAT.

But there was a glitch (isn't there always?). One of the key aspects to the SimplySteno program is keeping things...simple...easy to understand. And the manual that comes with DigitalCAT, while being very complete, is anything but simple to grasp. At 390 pages, it's tough to absorb, even for the most diehard techie.

So I created DigitalCAT Made Simple! It's free to my SimplySteno students, and now I'm offering it to other students as well. With 23 chapters that are easy to follow, you'll get the information you need, without having to plow through tons of information you don't. And we've included dozens of great screenshots for you visual learners.

The program is on CD and created in Word and PDF, so it's easy to use. Setting up your dictionary, beginning realtime, using audio sync, formatting - it's all in there. The program is $35, with a discount for 6 or more students (schools). Just click here to get more details.


T
he Biggest Myth About CR Schools (back to top)

Anyone who knows me or has listened to my rants over the last couple years knows where I stand on most CR schools. I think many are overpriced. I think many are lazy. I think many prey upon naive students. But I am here today to defend schools on one very important point.

I hear it time and time again - "My school wants students to fail so they have to stay in school longer. That's how they make more money." Simply not true. Schools understand the state of court reporting. Schools are closing down left and right. They understand that the only thing that will bring in more students and make themselves more money is to show student successes and restock the court reporter slots.

I will give you this point - there are schools that will sign up ANYONE who is physically able to walk through the door and sign on the dotted line. And that's just wrong - that's where the schools make their money. But once the students are in the mix, schools would like nothing more than to see you graduate. Success breeds success. And since the average graduation time is about 5 years, they are taking your tuition for quite long enough - I have no doubts that they are quite pleased with 5 years of tuition and a graduate.

If you take a look at the better schools, the graduation and test results are posted proudly on every viewable source. They understand that that's what a potential student wants to see. Proven education is what's going to bring more qualified students through the door.

I will not deny that schools make more money off you if you stay in school longer. But in the big picture, they realize that every lifer at their school is a sign of just how horrible their program is. They want you telling your friends. They want you representing their school. The problem is that many schools just don't have what it takes to make students get to that point and feel that way. You have an argument there. But a concentrated effort to keep you in school? I don't buy it, and I never will.


Are You Worthy of That Next Speed?
(back to top)

"We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" Ah, the chants of Wayne and Garth - they never get old! But have you had those same thoughts when moving into a new speed? You're not alone. It takes 2 tests to move up a speed in my program. And when I inform a student that they just passed their second test, I often hear, "I got lucky." "It was an easy test." "I think I should stay in the current speed until I feel more comfortable." Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Court reporting school is a strange breed. It's 99% failure and 1% success. You start in speed and fail a test. And another. And another. And another. And about 30 more! And then you PASS one! It must have been luck, right? You just failed 40 tests and passed 1 - what's going to make more of an impression? If I shoot a basketball 40 times and miss, then make one...I'm not too thrilled. That's the common mind set within all of us. But, as I mentioned before, CR is not a common program. If you managed to pass only 10% of the tests you took through school, you'd be considered a savant! If you just passed your 130 tests and you're starting 140, that doesn't mean that you will now be nailing 140. In fact, it doesn't mean that you'll be nailing everything at 130! All dictations are NOT created equal.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Poltergeist (scary!). And in one scene a ghost hunter talks about video footage he took of a Hot Wheel car rolling across the floor. It took 8 hours for the Hot Wheel to travel 6 inches. That's steno progress. Slow and gradual. It's the kind of progress that can't be measured in leaps and bounds. That would be nice, and it does happen on occasion. But for us mere mortals, it's 6 inches...over 8 hours.

So don't EVER doubt that your worthy of moving into that next speed. Embrace it! Celebrate every victory you can. They may be few and far between, so make the very most out of each one. You are not only worthy, you are the envy of every other student struggling to get a passing grade. So put a smile on that face of yours, tape that test to the fridge, and pump that fist in triumph! There's another challenge ahead and you're going to conquer that one too!


The State of SimplySteno.com!
(back to top)

I opened the virtual doors to SimplySteno.com on July 1, 2004. I had confidence in my program, but that doesn't mean that students will be willing to take that leap - both to another program, and to an online program! By August I had my answer : ) In 1 year we've enrolled over 100 students. Many of them can be found in the SimplyStenoville section of the website. It's only been a year, so most students haven't reached RPR speeds yet, but many have passed their state exams and are now working reporters!

This is a public "Thank You!" to all of you who have helped spread the word about my program. I've often talked about a "Steno Revolution." I think we're on the right track and gaining momentum. It's going to take some major changes at higher levels, but I think we're making a difference. Keep up the fight!


StenoBay Dies - RMR Prep Lives!
(back to top)

I guess if you put 7 websites on the Internet, one is bound to fail, right? Welcome to my failure, StenoBay.com. It seemed like a good idea at the time - an online auction site, like Ebay, but devoted solely to court reporting! And no fees for anyone! And lots of deals! And...it never took off : ) An auction site only works if there's enough traffic, and I never had that on StenoBay.com. Honestly, if I had a steno machine to sell, I'd use Ebay. So off StenoBay goes to the Internet graveyard.

But you know the saying - "When one website dies, another is born." Okay, maybe they don't say that. But www.RMRprep.com was launched a couple weeks ago, so maybe that saying will take off. RMRprep is an RMR prep program - 4 weeks of RMR boot camp. And if you order in July, you get a $20 discount.

Thanks!
Marc Greenberg

StenoLife.com
SimplySteno.com
SpeedBuilders.com
RPRPrep.com
CSRPrep.com
RMRPrep.com