I instruct because I remember what it was like when I was learning, and because I enjoy it. There weren't enough quality instrutors around when I was learning where I was at the time.

There are a lot more people here in this part of Maryland, multiple fields with in a 30min drive, each with hundreds of members (a fair bit of overlapping memberships) and lots of instructors. But I know that many parts of the country are not like this area.

I don't have a problem with someone running a paid instruction program. I'd expect a higher quality learning experience from someone taking money of course. If they don't deliver something for the money, they won't be in buisness that long.

I can't possibly see "professional" instrutors hurting anything. Those of us who do it for free will continue to do exactly that. So people who want "free" instruction can still get it where they can get it now. Maybe the paid guys will give enough added value to attract students, if they do, I don't see a problem sharing a field with a paid service.

And, who knows, maybe allowing paid instrutors will bring better instrution to areas that have limited resources at the moment.