What is the age of your youngest instructors?

[Lynne]

Don't quote me but I believe our youngest instructors are 16-17. And they are very good. Great kids, great teachers. At that age they are usually a Cho Dan, though we have one who is Sam Dan (she may be 18).

[Ceicei]

None of our black belt instructors are under 18. The youngest one we have is 24. We do have some young "teaching assistants" students that help teach other students in the junior classes, but we do not call them instructors.

- Ceicei

[kidswarrior]

56 on Friday. But as Ceicei said, some of my senior colored belts (16-17 yrs old) assist with some classes.

[tshadowchaser]

I once change schools/systems and the instructor in the new school put a 11 years old in charge of training me in the basics of the new system. This young man had been in the system a good number of years and understood the basics very well and was darn good at getting me to do the correctly. Once I learned the basics I went into the regular class with the rest of the adults.
This 11 year old also did much of the basic training inthe childrens class with my instructor watching and suggesting . My instructor would teach the childrens class and show the self defence. My instructor felt that any student past a certian amount of time in the system should learn to teach, under the watchful eye of an adult of higher rank.
At this time I have a 13 year old whom we are haveing lead the basic blocks and kicks as well as help others with the first forms. Yes we watch closly to make sure she is doing thing correctly and correct the class on things she dose not see. She is learning to watch and look at what is being done not just presume things are being done correctly

[kidswarrior]

Originally Posted by tshadowchaser

I once change schools/systems and the instructor in the new school put a 11 years old in charge of training me in the basics of the new system. This young man had been in the system a good number of years and understood the basics very well and was darn good at getting me to do the correctly. Once I learned the basics I went into the regular class with the rest of the adults.
This 11 year old also did much of the basic training inthe childrens class with my instructor watching and suggesting . My instructor would teach the childrens class and show the self defence. My instructor felt that any student past a certian amount of time in the system should learn to teach, under the watchful eye of an adult of higher rank.
At this time I have a 13 year old whom we are haveing lead the basic blocks and kicks as well as help others with the first forms. Yes we watch closly to make sure she is doing thing correctly and correct the class on things she dose not see. She is learning to watch and look at what is being done not just presume things are being done correctly

That's awesome, ts (I'm frozen out of the rep 'vault' for a few more hours, but your post really deserves it). In my estimation, it takes a very confident head instructor/owner--with maybe a dash of courage thrown in--to delegate even partial responsibility to young people, and maybe even more so to be willing to learn from them. I've done this in my day job (teacher) since the early 90s, and it's great to watch everyone benefit. My colleagues don't always see it that way, tho.

[tshadowchaser]

off topic maybe But I feel that if a student has the knowledge and certianly more knowledge in a system than me, who am I to turn down that knowledge if they are able to present it in a manner that is conductive to learning

[Kacey]

Officially? My assistant instructor is 34. The youngest instructor I'm aware of in our association is 19, and has been in MA since he was 6.

Unofficially? All students are expected to help each other, and all students past a certain rank (usually green belt) are expected to be able to lead warmups; all students are expected to be able to teach lower ranks specific techniques when requested. What I ask a student to teach will depend on the student's age, rank, and experience with instruction, as well as what I want taught.

[14 Kempo]

Personally, I don't think the age is as much a problem as is the knowledge and experience, and how that person is able to teach.

I think most will agree that teaching is a skill. There are many who can not, under any circumstances, teach. I ran into one just this past weekend, a 9th dan that just had trouble getting his point across. But heck, he was in his 60s and a 9th dan, so he must be a good teacher ... NOT!

Where I was, the youngest instructor that I can recall, was 16 at the time and under-ranked. This person was a great instructor for people of the same or lower rank than that of themselves. We did have others, as young as 13, helping out, called 'Team Leaders'.

[Jdokan]

8th Dan 7 year old... or was it the other way around?????

[Lynne]

When adults reach red belt level, it is mandatory that we teach one children's class a week. Some people despise it. I'm not sure when and if they can opt out of teaching. We only have "assistants" for children's classes.

In our adult classes, we usually have one person teaching the black belts. Then the colored belts are divided into groups. We usually have one instructor for red, one for green and orange, and one for yellow/white. Depending on the curriculum, belts might get mixed a bit. Maybe whites will stay together and yellow and orange will be together.

We work with an instructor for approximately 10 - 15 minutes, then rotate to the next instructor. So, the instructors teach all colored belts and get a lot of experience, too.

I haven't encountered anyone who couldn't teach yet. *crosses fingers* Well, I had someone for forms the other night. She was very good at drilling me on my Korean but never said a single word about my three forms. That bugged me. I'm sure my shoulders weren't square and there were probably a zillion things I could have done better.

[grydth]

I'm in a couple of Tai Chi/Qi Gong groups, where youth is expressly forbidden by decree of some Manchu Emperor or other.... there are rumors that an assistant instructor is 35, and if those can be proven, he will be thrown out as being 2 decades too young........ I can still do falls, so I'm one of the 'kids'.....

On a serious note, my daughters' Goju-ryu karate dojo has a Leadership Team. It prepares higher color belts for dan ranks and becoming full fledged instructors. They assist in some classes... some of the 1st kyus appear to be in the 16 to 18 year range. I find it works great for everyone, with more personal attention given than if it were just one dan ranked adult teacher.

[MBuzzy]

I'd say there is a big difference between young assistants and young INSTRUCTORs. It depends on the definition you apply....but my feeling is that if someone very young is teaching, at the least, a senior instructor should be supervising. I only say this, because I have been in the situation where very young students are left to instruct while the Master sits in the office - personally, I thought that was a foul.

In addition - it puts great risk on the school owner in terms of liability....

BUT - all students should learn to teach at some point.

[setboy]

I would be the youngest at 18

[terryl965]

Well I can say this with confidence mine is only 13 he has been studing for 11 years and that has always been with me, guess who. That right my son Zachary and he is an instructor, he understands what needs to be tought and carrys and folows though with it. Some ofyou fine folks have had the oppotunity to meet him andknow about his skill level. Next to that the youngest is 37 my wife. everybody else is in there forties.

I see young people instruc with the same passion as an adult and if that is the case then let them have a go at it.

Now my other two sons help teach some techniques but they are no where as mature as zach is.

[Drac]

Originally Posted by terryl965

Well I can say this with confidence mine is only 13 he has been studing for 11 years and that has always been with me, guess who. That right my son Zachary and he is an instructor, he understands what needs to be tought and carrys and folows though with it. Some ofyou fine folks have had the oppotunity to meet him andknow about his skill level.

The man speaks THE TRUTH...Zach is an AMAZING kid...His skill level is UNREAL for someone so young...Just had to add my 2cents...