Drop the Kata?

[punisher73]

Originally Posted by Danjo

Well, kata is a life-long endeavor to perfect one's form and movement. However, one should first be taught how to survive a fight. There's an old saying that goes, "When you're up to your asp in alligators, you tend to forget that your original objective was to drain the swamp." Teaching someone kata before teaching them to defend themselves is like insisting that the swamp get drained before the alligators are dealt with. Nothing wrong with "draining the swamp", but the priorities need to be correct. Most schools will teach kata at the same time as self defense, but there are those that insist that the kata be learned first.

Agreed. I think some still hold on to the old tradition of making sure that the student won't misuse what they learn and want to get to know them a little better before imparting certain things. Some of them might not even be aware that they filter it that way.