Linked-In Forum - Agency/reporter training reporting students

[Mary Jo Cochran]

This is a part of a discussion on a Linked-In forum.  Talks about an agency doing the training for students, then after a year the student start working.  I cut out what I thought was most important.  Is this logical?  (It reminds me lightly of the Dr. Phil commercial of FEED AMERICA, 1 in 6 is going hungry, your friends, co-workers and family).

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WE CANNOT COUNT ON SCHOOLS DELIVERING. My position is that they have and continue to implode.

THEREFORE, we must consider having one of the regulars on staff teach court reporting to friends and family the art of the Stenograph machine.

Yes, we go out talking about recruiting younger people with a good program in place, a devoted
working reporter spending a five hours a week teaching the machine keyboard.

The Agency pays that working reporter a decent hourly fee. The students buy their own equipment, they follow instructions, they are truly practicing their speed, and within a year the agency has picked up two or three devoted reporters grateful to have a job.

 Well, tell you what. Only the courts care about all of that nonsense and if you have not noticed many courts are retooling with digital only and to hell with the steno. So the courts will fend for themselves.

 Certification? Well, here in DC, MD and VA, there is no certification. The question therefore is as soon as students reach 200 wpm, yes, with digital backup, audiosynch with your CAT system, junior reporters can certainly take on beginners work and as they improve their skills,

 I learned the keyboard in 5 weeks, one hour a day of private tutorial, the rest of the day practicing, another 3 to 4 hours, but not necessarily at the same sitting. All this takes is a dedicated core reporter who would meet the students in a conference room at your office one hour a day.

The owner would pay that reporter some compensation for their time as you and only your firm would ultimately be the beneficiary of recruiting and teaching new reporters. You have a staff meeting. You decide from what background and minimum education you desired. Just unemployed university graduates who are having serious trouble landing a job in this tough economy?

[Judy]

I have no idea who wrote this, but it sounds like the new reporter would be enslaved to that agency for a l.o.n.g. time once he/she became proficient.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Damn.  I didn't even think of that.

[LEONORA L WALKER]

Yes, I agree with you Judy.  I don't like this idea.And if all it took was some agency to teach court reporting classes beyond 200 WPM, then why not just buy the Court Reporting At Home program that's recommended by the NCRA, and then Intern the tradtional way? 

To me, it sounds like a potential reporter would not truly be a freelance reporter, rather an employee. 

[Deby]

Reads as though from someone who is trying to establish a trend; someone who devalues the education - and the profession -  of court reporting; a slug.

[Delicia Struss]

Maybe because of the cut-and-paste -- or I'm not sure why -- but I didn't comprehend it.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Here is the whole article:

Mid-Size to Large Regional and National Reporting Firms Must Recruit and Teach Their Own Students Reporters Who Will Eventually Work for the Agency

The continuing appalling dismal failure of contemporary court reporting schools not graduating enough students, and those that do graduate may not be willing to move to your city, with retirements coming up in the next few years in the freelance world, government reporters retiring and not want to work another day but truly enjoy their retirement, leaves a big unresolved dilemma by agency owners about how they choose to run their growing business in the next few years. I have a suggestion.

WE CANNOT COUNT ON SCHOOLS DELIVERING. My position is that they have and continue to implode.

THEREFORE, we must consider having one of the regulars on staff teach court reporting to friends and family the art of the Stenograph machine.

Yes, we go out talking about recruiting younger people with a good program in place, a devoted
working reporter spending a five hours a week teaching the machine keyboard.

The Agency pays that working reporter a decent hourly fee. The students buy their own equipment, they follow instructions, they are truly practicing their speed, and within a year the agency has picked up two or three devoted reporters grateful to have a job.

Five hours a week? You must be joking you say. Well, as incredible as it is, yours truly learned the shorthand machine with a private tutor one hour a day, five days a week, for five weeks at the end of which he learned the long and short sounds of the vowels and had a speed of 90 wpm.

No certainly not ready to take anything. But during the next nine to ten months he practiced on his speed and in that same year before 12 months were up was reporting doing depositions and courts. I really wanted this. Determination. 95% of all contemporary school students do NOT have true DETERMINATION and is why 95% flunk. Yes, some drop out because of personal problems, but the majority never make it because they do not have SELF DETERMINATION.

In the meantime agencies will have to fend for themselves.

Oh, but you ask, "What about the teacher being certified? What about the agency being accredited by the state board of education? What about student certification and working in your jurisdiction? Et cetera. Et cetera and et cetera!

Well, tell you what. Only the courts care about all of that nonsense and if you have not noticed many courts are retooling with digital only and to hell with the steno. So the courts will fend for themselves.

So it's up to the agencies if they want to continue providing steno services to law firms that prefer stenos over anything else. Just graduate 2 to 3 reporters per year and watch your business grow and eat the competition.

Certification? Well, here in DC, MD and VA, there is no certification. The question therefore is as soon as students reach 200 wpm, yes, with digital backup, audiosynch with your CAT system, junior reporters can certainly take on beginners work and as they improve their skills, taking down at ever higher speeds, learning about editing, learning from the top flight reporters on the team how to handle difficult situations, they learn everything they need to know and they ARE MAKING AN INCOME while the typical contemporary student languishes in the contemporary steno school ever wondering if they will ever graduate after being in school three years and for some more when schools should have long ago put them out of their misery, are still fluttering around 200 wpm.

What would the in-house course cost the student? Only the cost of their shorthand machine, a computer and CAT software.

To be a court reporter within one year! Wow. It can be done.

All it takes is undivided DETERMINATION.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

For anyone who has a Linked-In profile, it is in the Court Reporter Net group.  Here is where the contract part comes in.

I like the idea about a contract signed by the parties, the new student and the agency, that says, "If you leave us before your contract for services is up, and if you get the other hiring agency to buy the remainder of our contract, then you are off the hook." We could elevate the freelancer's contract for services much like NFL and NHL athletes. It's an intriguing concept.

[Deborah M.]

I'm sorry, but it's not realistic to think it can be done in a year.  Yes, for a very tiny few.  I did it in two years of day school and seven months at night before that, and I devoted all my time to it.  I even took out a second on my house and quit my job when I started day school.  I went to school five hours a day and missed very few days, and I know I got through a lot faster than some of my friends.  And what if you just hate working for that agency?  How long do you have to stay there?  And most people do not make good teachers.