I had taken courses at this college previously, and was very happy with the training they provided. My class mates were primarily adults with like minded desires to learn on those previous courses. The same can't be said for the recent Permaculture Design Course I attended. On the first day of this two week course the owner of the college stated to the 25 students, and multiple instructors present that, "Alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use is acceptable but please use these discreetly." Needless to say we had multiple young students showing up for class highly intoxicated, as well as using through out the day. Including during the optional evening classes in front of the fire, during a fire ban I may add, while using axes and assorted knives. A real recipe for disaster! After a confrontation with two young students who decided to use next to me, I decided to leave due to the unsafe environment that I found myself in.
I certainly wasn't willing to risk my career because I was around drugs, or those who used them. The potential of losing my passport, security clearance, and failing a drug test was simply to great. Needless to say, the owner of the college didn't seem to care less that I left or the reasons why in my opinion. He back tracked on his comments regarding drug use on his property the first day by stating that the college does in fact have a drug policy. After five previous courses there, I've never seen nor heard of this so-called drug policy. Regardless, he willfully created a permissive environment regarding drug use by certain students on his property that put adult students like myself in a very unsavoury situation. To add insult to injury, he refused to refund my hefty tuition fees.
Alderleaf may be fine for short duration courses if you live close by and can leave if things get out of hand. However, it is definitely not an environment that is conducive to learning. In my opinion it's simply a 'stoner college' were young people go to party on their parents hard earned money.
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