Have you fired a student?

I am no dance teacher; I'am but a language teacher that is paid to tutor on an hourly basis. I did have to fire two of my students; they maltreated me even though at the very young age of 6 and 8 years old...

Wow...I'd love to hear that story.

Kids are evil! They whine, scream and manipulate until their demands are met.

I agre. Kids are very manipulative and can be very evil. Add in the parent in the situation and you have a kid who can make life miserable.

fasc i suspect they are trying to get your sensitive goat

this is interesting and, for me, a case of bearing it all.
I was fired by a studio and the only logical reason is the owner found out I was also taking lessons elsewhere. It was the most insulting and embarrassing thing I have ever been put through. I had dozens of friends at this studio, many of whom left soon after I did. I was told on the phone, by the female owner and was never ever given an explanation. I was referred to the "franchise owner should you have any questions". Said franchise owner would also not give me an explanation other than to tell me they felt they could not "do any more for my dancing and it was not right to continue to try to teach me".
For the record, there was no one at this studio who I had or tried to have a relationship with and certainly not anyone on the staff would ever been on my interest list.
Okay, that was 6 years ago. Anyone out there that does not want to dance with me at a party? No? I didn't think so.

Big favors can be hidden in small disappointments. Just saying.

Funny. I'd never really thought of it from the perspective of the student getting fired. Must feel pretty bad. *sigh*

I have never been fired, but I am aware of one student who was. The student had simply become too difficult to deal with, complaining all the time and expecting their every whim to be catered to (e.g. moving other students' lessons if this person wanted that time slot, etc). The student was a fairly advanced dancer but treated beginner students very poorly, so was not well regarded by many other students (though strangely was always nice to me). One of the instructors finally convinced the owner that the student should be fired, under the guise that they were promoting other studios, which was partially true but probably not much worse than some of the rest of us who occasionally attended other studios' open dance parties and (gasp) may have mentioned it in conversation at this studio. We are still casual friends, student has moved on to a different studio, and everyone is in a happier place now.

Well, kids can take ballroom lessons too. And unlike adults, they can be doing it because their parents made them. In which case, they won't necessarily cooperate. While nobody fired me, I am sure my music teacher was relieved when I was done with music program, because I didn't want to do it, I wasn't a kind of child who would stand up to her parents and refuse to do an activity they insisted upon, but I was very passive-aggressive about it as a preteen.

Firing a kid is a little more awkward than firing an adult because you aren't really firing the kid, you're firing the parent who's paying the bills. (Especially in a group situation, which is what I'm personally referencing, because that also sometimes invites the "But Susie is doing X and you aren't asking HER to leave!") As such at skating school I think we only ever really 'fired' one kid for being dangerous, and we had a another we kind of wanted to but didn't because we suspected the parents had lied about his age, but we didn't want to have that argument (cutoff was four; I REALLY don't think he was). Sometimes with parents it's easier to just grit your teeth and get through it, though I think for independent or club-based USFS coaches it's easier to be picky, so I would think dance coaches who are in high demand can probably be a little...um...stronger with parents.

Actually, I got fired once as a student. My partner and I were taking Rhythm from Teacher A and Smooth from Teacher B. Teacher A, out of the blue one day, told me we should just take everything from Teacher B. I think she was offended we weren't taking everything from her. Anyway, that was years ago, Teacher A and I are still friends and she actually taught us again some time after that, but I was very upset at the time. However, just because it's frustrating and upsetting for the student doesn't mean it doesn't need to happen, and I don't think there's a way to break that kind of news without them being upset.

For those of you who have fired someone for being a general PITA, did you tell them that's why? Or did you sidetrack it by saying you heard they were promoting other studios, or didn't have time in your schedule, etc.? Telling them the truth would be the most useful to them, but if their attitude is so bad you can't teach them anymore, would they listen to the truth...or would it open a bag of worms that would cause more harm than good?

I got "fired" as a kid. I really wanted to join this choir when I was 6 and so I did. I went diligently and then one day the teacher pulled me aside and told me that maybe the choir isn't the right place for me and that maybe my voice isn't completely developed.... She was right. I couldn't sing to save my life and I still can't.

Both of my kids attended private schools at one time or another. The private schools would have very detailed 'standards of comportment', and violation of those standards would result in reprimand and, eventually, expulsion. Private schools can get away with much stricter rules, they aren't mandated by the state to teach every student.

I'm in favor of having very clear, detailed, and explicit standards and policies. You get students, or their parents, to agree to the rules, and the penalties for violating those rules, up front.

And when I see detailed rules, I find myself considering: "are those rules that they picked up from some strict institution, or are they each representative of a bad situation they wish to prevent recurring?"