Slow Rotor,
Surely you were using the ten minutes out and the ten minutes back practicing flight manouvres. Was the instructor doing the flying??
Except for the Robinson helicopter that is lifed from key on to key off I thought most helicopters were skids off to skids on for the maintenance release and engine start to engine stop for revenue hours.
If the student takes his hands from the controls whenever the instructor is demonstrating something, and that happens a few times during the hour, say six minutes of flight, then the student is paying for ten hours out of every hundred to sit and watch, to someone who can already fly. Thats a lot of bucks in the slipstream.
Good idea to change schools.