Dating 101

"Dating School" Teaches Singles How To Go About It

(CBS)  In today's hurried world, many singles are on the move, focused on their careers, and love often takes a back seat -- not only leaving love behind, but singles in need of help in finding it.

And that's where "dating school" comes in.

Who even knew there was such a thing?!

In its "classes," you learn what you've been doing wrong so you can start doing them right, and find someone right for you, consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen explained Thursday during The Early Show's weeklong series, "How To Date In 2008."

Basically, the "school" offers "dating coaching," teaching how to love yourself so you can love another, says Dr. Paulette Sherman, a psychologist who owns "My Dating School" and who wrote the book "Dating From The Inside-Out: Using The Law of Attraction in Matters of the Heart".

The Early Show took Angela Knox to Sherman's school.

Knox is a 34-year-old sales manager who's never been married, except to her job -- but feels it's time for a change -- and finding a man is a priority.

"I have a mind of my own. I am extremely independent," she asserts.

What's keeping her from finding the perfect mate? "I've probably set the bar too high and have been unrealistic in my expectations," Knox admits.

Sherman says the biggest mistake people make when trying to meet someone is "not being yourself. ... But the point is to really know who you are and find a good match for yourself."

Sherman teaches what she calls the inside out approach, which she says involves being "clear what isn't working, your limiting beliefs, your past conditioning, what you're afraid of. And kind of move that out of the way ... or be conscious of that. Then, be clear what you want and don't want."

"I don't think I do a good job of letting the man know I need him," Knox observed.

Sherman says one of Knox's main obstacles is getting over the fear of being rejected.

As Knox herself put it, "I don't wanna set myself up to get hurt. And so, therefore, I may avoid situations or events -- for example -- speed dating."

Which is precisely where Sherman and The Early Show sent her -- to a speed-dating event in Manhattan. She got to chat with plenty of guys -- and only for a few minutes with each.

"I am actually having a lot of fun meeting people!" Knox said. "It's long enough, but not too short. It's going really well. I've actually gone on six "dates" (at the event) and I can say there are three that I'm saying, if those guys pick me, I would probably go out with them."

So, Koeppen noticed, Knox, a woman who only gave guys one chance and one date, is taking baby steps to finding the man of her dreams.

The one guy she went out with who she met at the event asked her to split the bill, Knox says, and that's a deal-breaker! "I haven't read an obituary announcing chivalry is dead!" she says.

The most important thing she learned from dating school, Knox says, was to give guys more than one chance and go to "target-rich" environments, where she can find a man she wants.

Dating school costs $125 for a private session.

TO SEE MANY TIPS ON DATING FROM SHERMAN, click here.

TO GET INSIGHT FROM SHERMAN ON WHAT SHE CALLS DATING MYTHS, click here.

[ank1973]

Hello jms956! I would recommend you listen to the video clip one more time. If you listen closely, you will hear me say, that the gentleman contacted me and suggested that we get together. Since HE initiated the date, then he should pay. I don''t think independence should negate chivalry. Do you?

[jms956]

The rule of thumb for who pays should be, "Who asked out whom?%u201D If a person invites another person out, they initiated. It is fine for a woman to initiate these days. If she suggests a restaurant and he agrees, would it be correct for her to expect him to pick up the bill?

What is hypocritical about Angela Knox as a well-employed progressive urban professional is that she proclaims her independence as her personal badge of honor...yet when the bill comes on a date she initiated, she becomes old-fashioned and just expects the man to pay under some call for chivalry, as if chivalry were all about the man''s money, and it isn''t.

I found it amazing that Dr. Paulette Sherman agreed with student Angela Knox on this point that the man should always pay.

But the biggest hypocrite was Hostess Julie Chen who is a millionaire and has said that she would not even CONSIDER going out with a man unless he paid for all. That is the height of arrogance.

If women want to be treated like real partners and not objectified as just "a piece of meat", then stop treating men like a "a piece of meat" too. That''s treating men like a piece of leather -- A WALLET.

I have a lower opinion of Julie Chen now and will change the channel when she''s on. She is a Neanderthal (yes, there were female cave women too) and just as liberated women call some men Male Chauvinist Pigs or MCPs, Chen is an "FCD" -a Female Chauvinist Dog. (What''s good for the goose is good for the gander.)

[bunny416]

I don''t understand why John from this morning has a
hard time he is adorable...give him my email..would love to meet a real guy like him

[shanev137]

With the divorce rate over 50% she should make a killing.