ANST - Big fish/small ponds, classes, and disgusted newcomers

[Casey&Coni]

I was reading Spykes words shortly after getting through the 'Pompous Ass' thread and they struck me as profound and inspiring:
    Awards are too often seen as the proof of "divine" knowledge, and the right to act in a manner contrary to what they would have acted like before they received the award.  In real life, and organizations like the SCA, too often people get the "Big Frog in the little pond" syndrome.  
It wasn't long ago at all that I had no rank to speak of whatsoever in the sca and I spent some time in groups worldwide both large and small.  Odd thing that I noticed early on was that in places with little or no growth rate, low event attendance, and little inner activity rank, titles, and awards had the *utmost* importance to the residents while in places where the opposite was true the award structure in the sca was understated and something that newcomers picked up on through participation rather than in formal discussion or in classes.  Too often I've sat in on classes in groups like those in the first group given by those who use it as a venue to describe their own awards, achievements, and heroic deeds rather than as a venue to disseminate information to those needing it.  I think this is a serious turn-off to newcomers who are bar-none the most important members in the society- I doubt there's a peer, duke, prince, or king who would dispute it.  My point (and I do have one) is that we need to find a way to curb this type of behaviour and keep those new members who might otherwise be alienated  by the award-touters who hinge their self-esteem on the charms we give out in court.  

But how?

One way I can think of in the class example would be to at least require a class screening of some kind when any group does an instruction oriented event (colleges, A&S events, newcomers events, academys, etc).  We seem to have very little in the way of a written standard for these types of things and I think that some sort of class 'authorization' for instructors might be in order.  I know as a knight, I'd rather not have Lord Fadedjeans Can't-fight-for-beans teaching new fighters at a combat academy to hold their swords betwixt their buttocks and their shields over their eyes while walking backwards at the enemy simply because he's a member of the famed and glorious Order of the Scarlet Muskrats Whisker and wants a pulpit to tell about the time he saved the kings ex-wifes cousins friends mothers boyfriend in Oertha in the second War of the Soggy French Toast Sticks from a falling marshmallow bag.

I realize that at first something like this might lower the number of availiable instructors but anyone who has been to Lillies War can tell you that this kind of thing can and does work.  I've never had a day at any other instructional event filled with good instructors who weren't hung up on themselves as I did at Lillies.  I know I speak for a great deal of people when I say that memories of a class with Lord Fadedjeans at an instructional event here is hell enough to make a duke fall on his sword.  I'm tired of these folks turning a college into a crap-shoot and running off the newbies to boot.  "... hope this instructor will be good... [dice roll here]... Oooohohohoo, a seven! Gala Cunninghams belt class!.... here comes the next one... AIEEEE not snakeyes!  I can't take a full hour of Lady Count-my-Grants class on what her Star of Merit means to her!"

Now all of that doesn't solve the big fish/little pond problems back in the local groups... but it's what I thought of to help.

Any other ideas on how to curb the award-touters on the local level?  I've been stumped on that one for ages.

Dieterich
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