What is your view of a modern school that doesn't teach children?

First let me say that I no longer teach anyone that is not mature enough to deal with adults and real self-defense skills. So I fully understand where you are coming from. But I teach at my own [private dojo at my home now so i have no rent to pay.

The statistics i read in a martial arts magazine a few years ago stated that in the U.S.A. children made up at least 85% of all martial arts students. So depending on your rent situation not at least having some children may put you out of business. You must remember that all the other classes or schools in your area will sign up any child or adult they can get. So what ever you do, don't get the idea that since you teach self-defense and the others school don't teach what you do that you are likely to attract more students. I owned my own dojo for most of the years between 1973 and late 1997. I made that mistake and it almost put me out of business. The public is generally ignorant of the differences from one school to another. They will join the school that is close, recommended to them by someone they know, or the first one they see. I wish it was not so but that is the way it works.

Edit: If you put your class in some other business, health club, ...etc. try to set up an agreement where you pay a percentage of the money you collect from the students. If you do well no problem, if you don;t you are not out of a lot of money. I know several friends that pay a health club X number of dollars a month and they either went broke or barely pay the rent there. I'm talking about guys that hold high ranks and masters titles from legitimate organizations.

Getting new students is a catch 22. Kind of like not being able to look for your glasses until you have found them. I used many different advertising methods during the years I had my Dojo. The best one by far is the students you have already. But first you have to get a few. I give them free lessons for every new student they bring in that joins. So no money out of my pocket for the advertising. Ends up being a win/win for everyone. If a student brings in a new student I give the finder a half a month free if the new guy joins and pays for a month. Any student is able to do it and I have no limit on how many times a student can do it.

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Children compose about 70% of the martial arts classes out there and so the instructors that are telling you that you need children's classes to turn a profit are largely correct. However sometimes it is not about that for some and I kept my school open privately for ten years and did not care if it made money. This allowed me to be very selective in who I took on as a student and I did take on some children and provided classes for them. That was mainly so that I might have some that might eventually grow into young adulthood and then carry on things. However children today don't wish to be tied or committed to anything and have so many other interests and distractions that this proved to be all but impossible. Eventually it was one of the reasons why I closed my school and that was just under two years ago.

I have a few other friends also that have their own schools and financially well enough off that they can take the same approach and do and cover the expenses of the school. Some people when they get to a point in their lives like myself or them have classic cars or boats or other expensive toys. They and I have/had our own schools and gyms that we could work out in and do as we wished and be selective in who we taught. This all being said I think you need to sit down and evaluate where you are now and where you want to be in five or ten years with all this. I have had a large commercial school with over 175 students and made a decent buck and at one time was drawn to all that. Do that for several years though and it becomes work and is not the same enjoyment maybe as what might originally drew you to martial arts is what I have found. I think if you are wanting a school that makes a profit and has a large number of students then you will need to have a children's program of some kind. You will be lucky though if one in a hundred of those stays with you beyond six years in their training and most wont stay beyond three. If on the other hand you want a smaller group and don't care about the bottom line and sometimes dropping a few hundred or several hundred dollars for rent and utilities and such then you don't need children and can be very selective in who you take as a student.

The effect would be more noticable if it were a school in Iran, where religion and state go together like bread and butter. The students would ultimately grow up different from everyone else and therefore may feel alienated, which would end up with social problems and the standard of living suffering because of that - being unable to get a job for example. edit to answer additional details; then why isn't ahmadinejhad the de-facto ruler of his country?

it wont last long

unless you focus on other incomes for your school like privet lessons, you wont make enough to pay your basic bills let alone the rent.

i know one person who just does privet lessons and seminars, he has about 15 to 20 students paying him 200 per hour. when he hosts a seminar his prices for them as well as over 150 per seminar, he will usually invite a famous instructor.

he is the only person i have seen even to get this to work. its not easy to get some one to pay that much for a month let alone a privet class. and truthfully he not that good s as an instructor nor as a martial artist.

he is also in a very up scale area. the rents for a 1000 sq foot is over 15k a month.

children classes usually pay the bills, and cover all your expense, the adult classes are or should be the extra money.

i do know of a few others that dont teach children but also they dont have store fronts either. and charge very little for classes

We allow kids kids, but treat them as adults. They and their parents are told that if they cannot comply, they cannot attend. If they stay they will be given adult ranks. Most don't last. A few persist, mainly because of older siblings or parents in the program. They advance at whatever rate they deserve to, which can be quite slow. We have one young high school student who started in second grade. She is about a year from first black. Her dad is a black belt and her mom is testing for first black in September. I think this is a nice middle ground, which allows you to teach those students who are serious and attract families.

Why don't you run this class and another for kids. That way you can teach this class and still back some more money form the kids class?