Complaint Review: Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando FL - Orlando Florida

I as many others have a joy of baking. For many years I have wanted to join a prestigious school to learn more about the traits of baking and decorating cakes, so I've joined Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando. I began my studies in early January of 2013. Learning about Sanitation and Safety along with the beginnings of the Foundations of cooking. We were told to write a paper about your favorite pastry chef. As instructed by the chef and by the information provided to us on the portal, we needed to write a paper about a pastry chef that inspires you in APA format. I received an A for the paper.

As time past and writing other papers it seemed pretty simple; until I got to the breads class (July - August) with Chef Chris Cleare. We were asked to write a paper on any type of bread. Following the same instructions as given in this class and previous classes, I turned in my paper. Two days before the term was ending (August 12th) Chef Cleare approaches me with a nasty attitude and starts accusing me of plagiarism. When I asked what are you talking about, he began with, "I refuse to read passed the first sentence of your paper because is not in the format I wanted."

I expressed, this is the format that was provided from you and what's on our portal and I have a 94 in the class why would I result in cheating? I also tried to explain that the past papers I've written has been on this format and have gotten excellent results, and his response to me was, "Let's face it, the other chefs truly didn't care about your education." I couldn't believe he not only disrespected me, he insulted his colleagues. He stated, "Re-write the paper using In-text citation, I can only give you a 40 out 80. That's the best I can do." Not knowing what in the world is in-text citation, I did my research and managed to figure it out.

On August 16, I was approached by Chef Andrea Zelen (Lead Baking and Pastry Instructor), she stated not to let the grade from my bread's class affect me. She also stated that the instructors were being taught today about the new format of APA which consist of In-Text Citation. Something introduced after the fact. When I told her I didn't agree with the grade, she replied,"If you try and fight it, the paperwork will come to me and you will end up with a zero." I walked away from her.

On August 23rd I turned in an appeal for a grade change to Chef William Mather, Director of Education. Chef Mather refused to hear me out and sided with his colleagues. I took it upon myself to go further to prove that my paper wasn't plagiarized and the format used was what was instructed by Chef Cleare. On September 3rd, I called their Corporate Office in Chicago and left a message for Mr. Tavis to contact me. The next day I received a call from Mr. Tavis and explained the situation and he stated he will call me back on Friday the 6th of September once he investigates the matter.

Mr. Tavis contacted me via phone on September 12th and tells me that my paper was of poor quality and that's why I received the low grade. He not only disregarded my point, he insulted my intelligence. I explained that doesn't make sense to me when Chef Cleare refused to read my paper a disregarded it because of the formatting. Mr. Tavis then stated that he will look into it further, this has been since the 12th of September. I have called Mr. Tavis and left several messages for an update and he's been ignoring my calls.

I was called in the office of Chef Andrea Zelen, to my dismay she had an English professor trying to explain to me why my paper was of low quality. I chuckled and expressed to the professor that my fight wasn't because of a low quality paper, it was because I was accused of plagiarism and proved that I didn't plagiarize and that I called corporate on them this is what they come up with. The professor stated, "I did not know this, I was just told to read your paper and comment on it."

I took my English class the term of August-September and was .02 points shy away from a perfect score, after the bread course. Go figure! I will not end here, I will take this as far as I can. There has been many accusations of plagiarism in the school and the students are so afraid to speak up because of the intimidation that the chefs endure upon them.

Plagiarism is a serious offense and has cheating behind the word. I've been an A student since the beginning and don't need to result in cheating to express my knowledge. With all the funds that us students pay to learn and obtain a degree seems useless when you have educators like the ones mentioned above bringing your level of education down.