North Carolina Real Estate Commission Please Repeal 58H 0303

     September 20, 2018


     Dear North Carolina Real Estate Commission

     I recently received a letter from Corean Hamlin.  In this letter she stated that the Commission has for years measured the performance of real estate instructors  based on the performance of their students.

     It appears to be the opinion of the Commission that an instructor can be so good that he can teach a person to pass the North Carolina real estate exam that does not study at all outside of real estate  class.

     It also appears from this that it is the opinion of the Commission that an instructor could be so bad that even if a student read the entire textbook and made flashcards and studied ceaselessly and availed  himself to several outside study aids, that student could fail the North Carolina real estate exam due to the ineptness of the instructor.  I can not follow this logic.

     It would seem that the student is the deciding factor as to whether or not the student passes the North Carolina real estate exam.  Why would two students sit in the same classroom for the same 75 hours with the same instructor with one having a result of making a 98% on the test and the person in the next desk making a 48 per cent ?  This is not an unusual story.

     I submit that the Commission's  method of evaluating instructor's skill by the performance of their students is flawed.  It is the student (not the instructor) that makes the difference.  In any real estate class, there are students that understand studying.  They have a basic knowledge of math.  They have a basic knowledge of real estate.  Some students have a college degree.  Some students have advanced degrees.  They take notes in class.  They avail themselves to other study aids that are recommended by the instructor and some that they find on their own.  They have leadership skills.  They start a study group that meets outside of class.  They watch my real estate math videos that are posted on You Tube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HbEwoiVBMY  They pass the real estate school test.  They pass the North Carolina real estate exam.

     There are other students in class.  They barely got out of high school.  The don't know the difference between the numerator and the denominator.  They work fifty hours at the plant.  They show up at my night class tired.  Have they done their assigned homework?  Have they answered the questions at the end of the chapter?  Are they listening to me?  The truth is they are probably trying.  I am trying to make explaining agency interesting for them.  As I am explaining it, they are texting their ten year old son that is home alone.

     They are plagued with problems.  Their husband is sick and not working.  Their car payment is overdue.  Their son just got kicked off the little league team.  Their spouse is having an affair.  They were arrested last week at the demonstration in Charlottesville.  Studying real estate is about number seven on their list of priorities.

     They scrape through my real estate school exam with a barely passing grade.  They go fail the North Carolina real estate exam.

     The Commission measures my performance ( Any Instructor's Performance) based on how  many of my students are able to leave my classroom and pass the North Carolina real estate exam the first time.  They could attend a state exam review from my competitor.  I don't teach such a class.  Why don't they avail themselves to such a class?   Some do.  Most don't.  They do not want to pay the tuition.  They could watch my free You Tube videos to help them with the math.  They are too tired.  They could read Appendix A in the textbook or listen to me read it to them from You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaPLEyKzX24  They are too busy for that.

     They could answer the questions in Dearborn's book, "Guide to Passing the the AMP Real Estate Exam".  They could but they have to attend their daughter's soccer game.  They could take my practice test at www.ncreexam.com .  There is so much demand on their time.

     The Commission evaluates my performance,  Mr. Instructor's performance, based on the success or failure of  someone that I have absolutely NO control of.  The Commission connotes that it is my fault that Mr. Idon'thavetimetostudy fails the North Carolina real estate exam.

     Can I study for my student?  Can I make the book unboring? 

     What would happen if you dropped item 5 and 6 from rule 58H 0303   ? 

     Corean said in her letter that changing from 180 days to 30 days measurement period is "fairer and more accurate evaluation tool".

     There is nothing fair or accurate about evaluating me (or any other instructor) based on the performance of someone else, our  students.

     The students come to us with language problems.  They come to us without basic math skills.  They come to us with no study skills.  They come to us with enough personal problems to write a soap opera.  They come to us with stress and anxiety.  My ability to teach someone that does not want to expend the effort required to learn is how the Commission thinks I should be evaluated.  Does the Commission think I am a good instructor if I can instill in them the desire to learn?  Is that the job of the North Carolina real estate instructor?  That does not seem right to me.

     One of the problems in the world today is that no one wants to accept responsibility.  Everyone wants to blame someone else for their problems.  The Commission is demanding that the instructor take the blame when the student will not expend the effort that is required to study enough outside of class to pass the North Carolina real estate exam.  This is not fair.  This is not accurate.  This is not necessary.

     A perfect example of this is in class attendance.  It is extremely rare that a student that fails my real estate school exam was 100% in attendance.  More likely that failing student missed two nights of class and left early on a third night.  The Commission measures my performance based on the actions of someone that can not even get to class every night.  This is so obviously wrong.

     The Commission does not need to evaluate real estate instructors based on the performance of their students.  The Commission does not need to evaluate instructors at all.  The market will evaluate the real estate instructors.  If an instructor is bad, he will soon find himself with no students.  If you need an example of that, notice that First Real Estate School is the only school teaching pre license classes in Hendersonville.  Before I arrived in May 2016, there was someone else.  He is gone.  I had forty students in my last night class.

     Evaluating the quality of potential instructors is not the job of the Commission.  This does not in any way protect the public.  There is nothing wrong with a dull, boring, monotone, humorless, instructor that says AH ten times per minute.  If listening to an instructor like that would cause harm, I would have died in high school.

     The marketplace will get rid of bad instructors.  This is not a job for the Commission.

     Please repeal item 5 and 6 from 58 H 0303.  or what ever the rule is that requires the Commission to evaluate real estate instructors based on the performance of others.

     The Commission does not evaluate real estate brokers.  Can you imagine a rule requiring real estate brokers to send in a video of their listing presentation with special emphasis on how well he presented the WWREA brochure at first substantial contact.  Then if Mr. Broker only listed  two out of ten prospects, DISCIPLINARY ACTION.  We don't need the Commission to do that.  The market does it.  The market will do it for real estate instructors. Please  repeal 5 and 6 of 58 H 0303.

     Thank you for taking the time to hear me out.  Remember MLS seemed like a far out idea in 1957.  Letting the marketplace decide about instructors may seem far out.  Once you stop wasting time evaluating real estate instructors, you will wonder why you ever did it.