The art and study of poetry

I have been trying to find a course to do in writing poetry at the moment. Most of what I can find is workshops. You go along with poems you've already written, and people listen and offer some critique. (And I wonder how limited that critique is, if everyone feels compelled to be politely encouraging. It also means the input comes in a largely accidental, unstructured fashion.)

Is this some kind of reflection on the state of modern education? If so, it is a crying shame. I mean, of course a good many people sit down and write good poems, in total ignorance. But couldn't they write better poems if they knew at least some of the "rules for the dance" (as Mary Oliver calls them)? And where is a place where people actually teach and practice these?