You wrote:
I can tell you now that to choose the wrong school can make your life very unhappy indeed.

My comment: Yes, that is very true! I tend to think that if we FTs were not there,none of these FAOs would become the little Gods and Goddesses they are at whose mercy we more or less are!
A very strange situation....
In many cases, it may work well, and in others it may not work at all.
After all, there is a system of tught controll behind it, and it is so typical for China!