I disagree, but let's leave it at that.
Ah, but you assume that the teacher does all that when "chatting". I don't make that assumption. Have seen many that don't do any of that. Don't get me started.
Gritting my teeth and totally disagreeing.
Well I draw a clear line between language exchange and an informal lesson.
Language exchange is just chatting and it has to happen in both languages to make it an equal exchange since no ones paying, and the situation we're discussing was a lesson. The OP of that post did say that it was chatting but that pointers were given. I think it fits the bill moreso of an informal lesson than a free chat session because again, focus was all on the student's desired target language and there was correction involved.
Again, to compare I put it out there, any foreigner in Japan seriously studying Japanese would know that time with a native speaker who will, although not marking your papers and adhering to a peer-reviewed curriculum, provide you with an hour of native-speaker level examples and correct you when you don't make sense, is invaluable if you have the faculties to absorb it.
I'm not even so much defending what that guy did in particular, just the concept that 2000yen an hour for a light lesson isn't automatically poor value.
So many "teachers" do the former and don't/can't do the latter. You get what you pay for. Beside, that undercuts the market for the rest of us who ask for more (yet far less than what was paid in the bubble days), offer more, and find it hard to get clients because they are used to the cheapskate wannabes.
Yes, and there are also huge numbers who go to eikaiwa only to socialize or kill time or meet a foreigner, NOT to learn the language to any degree.
You should know having so many years in the industry that you do not always get what you pay for at any level. But fair enough, on average you do get more at a school. Books, refunds, a quiet learning environment, more flexible lesson hours, listening material, etc.
Sure students are sometimes there to do nothing but socialize and
I don't disagree with you there but that's at the cheapies and indies.
The biggest of those is (was) Nova. It's feasible to pay cash for company at those kinds of places because it doesn't cost a whole lot.
Although not super I think the money paid at places like Gaba and Berlitz (especially Berlitz, as I understand it they're the most expensive of the big names) warrants more careful spending on the students part, I mean that'd be a hella expensive way just to meet people.
Also, hate to break it to you but bubble and pre-bubble days are gone world-wide. Thinking we're entitled to the salaries they paid during that dream-phase is just silly. The Japanese themselves can't even hope for that. That's one of the things that makes me laugh at the Berlitz union's fight. Whatever happened to just working for your money and making sure you don't get canned?
I got a call from a uni professor who wanted a replacement for his Aussie tutor that returned to Oz. I told him he had to pay 4000 yen/hour plus transportation (amounting to a 45-minute subway ride plus a bus or taxi ride). We exchanged 2 emails on that, and he said he "only had to pay 2000 yen/hour" from his previous tutor. Gimme a break!
1. I'm not him.
2. You need the tutor, and I had experience while the Aussie didn't.
3. You have the money.
So, I lost the contract. Didn't lose sleep over it, because there are more fish in the sea, but can you see my point?
I won't argue with you there. As I said, 2000yen an hour is reasonable digs for an informal lesson where the self-motivated, perceptive student benefits from and is able to absorb native exposure and unstructured correction. If that individual wanted someone armed with the tools to supplement a university-level education then he will get what he pays for at 2000yen.
My uni is not that much different than most others in the respect that we have a certain number of mandatory courses, and most students just get them out of the way in the first year. They see no value in them and have no concept of "structure". It's a credit to pay for, nothing more.
And despite what I said in the above paragraph, a lot of students see their entire time at Uni like that due to the way the companies recruit. Recruiting practices over here effectively end the need to study at having been accepted into Uni., not graduating.