Spent $180 on a knife sharpening course that just told me to buy a whetstone

I signed up for a two day sharpening class at a culinary school in Chicago back in January because my knives were tearing tomatoes instead of slicing them. The instructor spent most of the first day talking about steel types and the second day had us practice on one stone while he watched. I paid $180 for stuff I could have found on YouTube for free, and my knives still felt dull when I got home. What really got me was when a line cook friend came over and fixed all my knives in 20 minutes with a $30 stone and a simple angle trick. Has anyone else paid for a class that turned out to be less useful than just asking someone who does it every day?