Are you...experienced?

edit - Kokoro, as I stated, technical info is readily available, it is the McTeachers best friend. I see people reference that site all the time, never been there. If a good teacher is also a student first, we know 80-90 percent are McTeachers, and that seeing is believing, how can a site like that be anything more than a propoganda tool? Is there some body of authority that is recognized and able to say what school is what based on...I don't know, it would seem it is based on reports and publicized curriculum, fees and contracts, etc. If we have been there and done that, we know we can't pass judgment without actually checking it. I think my definition is better, because again, it has nothing to do with martial arts, the Mc in Dojo. A convenience store is a McStore. Sears, Penny's, Target, Walmart, these are all McStores. The dilution of a process to get product to the masses is a way of life. Most teachers in the public ed system would probably love to be able to

be able to get more involved with each student, but the number of students, salary to teach them, locations, pretty much force educators to compromise. The difference between MA is, nobody has to attend classes, whereas we do public school.

I'd like to say experience yields caring about the student, but it doesn't. People can join community programs like make a wish, big brothers and sisters, but that can all be a bs front to help promote the school. As you know, I am talking about people that cite experience in years as what makes them credible. Do you think it is possible for a person that is 28 yo, to have 25 years of experience? Maybe in fantasy land but not in real life. That is the point. Can a person gain very valuable experience in a short time? Yes. But those are he rare people, and most are not going to get the experience of a Yamaguchi, Kano or Yip Man...ever...no matter how long they say they have been teaching and how many platitudes they can recite. If y

you divide that by 20, you get segments of 20, so it isn't as long as it looks.

edit - Mich, that is good advice, after you find a good dojo and have studied for 20 years, come back and we'll see if experience enables you to do more than have a brain fart.

Edit - JW, the question is not too long. There is no stipulation as to how accurate a person wishes to be, the guidelines suggest being as detailed as possible. The question itself is 3 words, I chose to expound for the sake of accuracy in my intent. As I suggested with the cross, I am well aware people will look at what I wrote, and contend points of accuracy, rather than look within.

How about honor? Every student that ever started training in a well known TMA, began that training understanding there is a system of promotion, and none of them include saying, ok, I can teach, I can open my own school. I don't care how good one is, and how experienced they have become under my definition. At the foundation of an art is, "Am I being true to what I have been taught?" Obviously, there are slews of people that have answered yes to that question, and more obviously, the "true" answer is no. Look at the Gracies family tree on their site, it's huge, those

people reproduce like rabbits, but in North America, the majority have BS certificates, that's why the Gracies distinguish themselves from BJJ, but only an idiot would argue it isn't 95 percent on them. Maeda only taught two family names.

Edit - Tom, back to the 90, as I said, I think it is closer to 99. I believe I have seen you comment on how things are done in Okinawa. To me, the global impact reduces the number in the cash cow, which would be the USA. I didn't miss that. If I am taught, and learn, through experience that dedication, devotion to the basics, belief in the instruction that benefit lies in the redundant and boring behavior of things I equate simply with physical motion, does in fact reveal more than I can knock someone out with a reverse punch, am I not bound by the truth if I hope to expand that understanding. Ever hear, "the devil is in the details"? Ok, paying rent is a fact of life, did I not know this before I opened the school? Was I not taught the "Way" is in the practice? Have I not experienced this and know it to be true? Compromising the way to pay rent is failure to adhere to the principles of truth, and therein lies the devil, having himself a good old time w

with the details.

Have you not learned from teaching your smaller classes, being able to spend more time with each student, that they progress more quickly, gain an understanding faster? In your city, how many schools can you identify, private teachers and otherwise, that have larger classes than you? I'd be willing to be 80-90 easily. Guess who loses? The student. Who is paying you to learn? If I teach a 1 hour class and have 10 people, that isn't even that large, each might get 6 minutes of quality instruction. How long did it take you to discover love, and how long would it take in 6 minute intervals?

edit - Possum, I didn't forget that either. One thing I think of when I see this forum is that it could be like wiki. Many people scoff at wiki, but the fact is, it has useful information. You're not a kid playing a game, many of the regular posters are not children, children defined as under 25. The kids are, I get that, but there seems to be a few adults that get off on that thumbs up and point accumulation just as much.

You're a teacher. You might be a crap martial arts teacher, and practitioner, and I don't really care what anyone says about TKD. I have my beliefs on the efficiency, am full aware of the raging debate between ITF and WTF, sport versus combat. When westernization is taken away from the art, time dating going back 40 years, within the foundation of the art TKD before division, are skills that can ruin an attackers day. I've seen you allude to the "Way" through a comparison using what you do teach, computer science. The thing tha

that struck me at the time was, you aren't seeing whatever it was that made me think that, in the teaching of TKD. Most people don't identify TKD as, after the layers of commands are pulled back, there is a TKD 0 or 1. They don't get a vote, I think you know that, so that illustration might satisfy the novice understanding some have of TKD, (people here) but it allows McTeachers brotherhood mentality.

If someone is happy, are you obligated to burst their bubble? That's an interesting thought, and mine is, yes, you are. "I have only come here seeking knowledge, things they would not teach me of in college, I can see the destiny you sold, turning into a shining band of gold" Whether they know it or not, they have come seeking truth, and while happiness is a pretty darn good truth, it isn't the one commonly associated with the primary understanding behind a martial art, and that is self defense. I am pretty sure the father would rather see an attacker

laying on the ground as his wife and kids stand there happily hugging him, than look up from a hospital bed and have to make sure everyone is happy. You didn't sell the destiny, they chose it, but the bottom line remains.

Is there a criteria? I think it is more a result. Have you discovered quality time with your kids (if you have them) or wife, becomes more precious and holds a fundamentally deeper appreciation for it? Have any regrets you didn't approach a moment in time you can't get back, differently? You say you teach kids and don't really seem to have any regrets, so, let me ask this. McTeacher Doe teaches a 4 yo child how to do a choke hold. The child understands when they feel the tap, they stop. Two toddlers are "rolling" and one gets choked a bit too much. A terrible tragedy occurs. Do you think that child has any concept of how they have ripped the hearts out of two parents? Does that child understand the other kid didn't go bye bye o

or is sleeping. That kid will be sleeping like a baby within 48 hours, why, because it is a baby. This is experience only someone older can possibly understand, and a teacher is there to provide an understanding of the information, not just how to physically manifest the information.

No, being the student of a top not teacher doesn't mean diddly in terms of understanding.

edit - Shaeeck, you're the McTeacher that thinks you can teach a 4 yo to choke responsibly and are proud of it, I guess the other McTeachers that read that post chose to ignore it. You are totally clueless, often citing how you started training in diapers. You are 27 or 28 and think you have 25 years of experience. Most adults don't include "rolling" in diapers and getting crap all over themselves. Sorry to disappoint you, but that isn't experience. Who else did you take on, Sponge Bob? Do you list your preschool as part of experience on your resume also? How about trips to the ice cream store? The DVD version is for those with comprehension problems, hope you enjoyed it.