North Bennet Street School — Local services in Boston

We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm. --Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort

I would gladly submit to a lie-detector test to support all statements in this review.

North Bennet Street School has now had more than five years to offer a peaceful truce to this dispute. They have chosen instead to sit silently or offer weak excuses. As a result, their unwillingness to resolve this issue has fostered hatred, rancor, and malice against me on the part of their "happy" and "successful" graduates and clientele. One has to look no further than the rebuttals to my reviews to see how this reviewer has been portrayed (by people who are ignorant of the facts of this dispute) as stupid, unreasonable, incapable, and possessing a host of other undesirable traits.

As I continue my training and form relationships with colleagues and with skilled, award-winning and highly respected artisans and craftsmen in the field, they are impressed by my work ethic, enthusiasm, determination, ability and dedication to this craft. When I share with them my bitter experiences with NBSS, they are shocked and appalled that an institution with "such a good reputation" would behave in such a shameful manner.

This "charitable", "philanthropic", tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, whose mandate is to benefit the community and stand out as a beacon for what is just and what is right, has failed miserably in this regard. Proof of one's character is in one's deeds. Their hurtful words and deeds will stand in perpetuity as a witness against them. NBSS's own actions will forever point an accusatory finger at its self.

Quoting someone who has completed a similar course, he/she stated, "Any school worth anything will know that to achieve perfection in a jewelry piece is to work long hours after the teaching is over. The fact that they did not allow you to take the work home is ridiculous." I was not allowed to take the work home, not allowed to stay adequate after-hours to work in the studio, and not allowed to hire even a school-approved tutor (even at my own expense) to complete my projects. This commenter goes on to state, "One of the first lessons in jewelry school was that you will be painfully slow at first, and that speed will only increase with practice and repetition." This is a concept NBSS' instructors and administrators simply could not seem to grasp.

I don't doubt that others have had wonderful experiences with NBSS. I too have read about the stellar successes of others after the completion of their courses there. I wrote this review to speak of MY experience. MY complete disillusionment...

I would HIGHLY advise any person seeking a Preservation Carpentry degree to just do regular Carpentry. If Steve is still the year one instructor, you'll want to spoon your eyes out. He is a great craftsman and does good work, but he is a lousy educator and does not know how to read a room at all. The Introduction to architectural drawing part of the year was the worst experience of my life, and should be deleted or severely abbreviated. The Carpentry course has cooler instructors, you actually build stuff all day, not sit a bench and rub chisels on sandpaper. And then at the end of the year, the carpentry guys have a little crash course on what the preservation guys had to spend all year learning. Save your time, money, and sanity and just sign up for Carpentry. To give you an idea, in my class, 3 people switched after one week of Preservation Carpentry, and when I wanted to, I couldn't since carpentry was full. I would say the carpentry program is a FIVE star for sure, and the pres. carpentry COULD be a LOT better if , hopefully Steve isn't there anymore, and some of the brutally boring crap was less drawn out or maybe just like ONE day. After one year of preservation carpentry you will be a master of sharpening chisels, and cutting dove tails. that's it (just use youtube for free) and one year of Carpentry, you will pretty much learn how to build a house from the ground up, you learn stuff like, cutting rafters, building walls, headers, sills, framing out windows and doors properly, trimming out windows and doors, installing windows and doors, flooring, roofing, cutting valley rafters, making smaller projects like boxes and cabinets, and SO MUCH MORE. ONE star for Preservation carpentry, FIVE stars for Carpentry. I remember taking a tour of the carpentry area and seeing all the stuff they were building, some of which was the SAME as us, but in a way cooler, more fun and social environment. Please trust me. OH, the ONE cool thing about Preservation was taking a tour of all the historical structures around Boston, of which there are MANY. That was amazing, BUT something you can do yourself without the lamest...

I’ve been in the Locksmithing program since September 2020 and have had an awesome experience thus far. Rob Dwyer is very personable and was extremely helpful throughout my entire application process. Bob at the front desk and Kristen at the gift shop are super nice people and I look forward to coming in every morning and greeting them.

The program head, Barbara Baker, is an amazing teacher and has taught me so much in so little time. She takes the training very seriously and not only expects you to put out the best work that you possibly can, but she will motivate you to do so. Through her instruction, I have gained a large amount of confidence in myself and my abilities both in and out of locksmithing. My time at the school has gone so well that I made the choice to apply for their carpentry program and continue growing my...