What has happened to the models?

This is a little off topic, but it has come up a few times here and in other posts. How do you feel about the quality of models? Are they generally good at holding a pose, maintaining their gaze? Staying awake?

In another thread someone said that the model takes a break every 20 minutes. At a recent workshop, our models took breaks that often too. The last model, though, kept falling asleep or yawning constantly, looking around, and shifting her pose. This was a portrait class, so the shadows were really important. I was verrrrry displeased.

Now, I may be a butt about this, because I was a model for 2 years in college. Back then (1989 or so) we had to audition for the gig, and they trained us briefly on what was expected (don't move!) and the artists' interest in models so we would know what was a good pose. Is this the norm? Also we took a break every 50 minutes during long poses. Okay, yes, I did pass out a few times during standing poses, but I took that job very seriously!

I think that lots of people are shy about talking with the model. If you would like more seated or standing poses, you should ask, because most people are nice about that. Also you can ask for a short pose to be repeated facing a different direction if that's helpful. The best classes were ones where the students acted like the model was a valued partner and participant in the process, and so being asked to do something was rather a compliment.