Kwiter said:
I've said this repeatedly when talking about this Distance Learning that my children attend a Brick and mortar School and will continue to do so and the Videos are nothing but extra material to help them along as "I" am a Video fiend and do find them useful for learning things.
I will say this for now tho, it seems the biggest critics of this seem to be those with the most to lose if they are useful. IOW School owners who need a constant flow of new $$$ to keep their business's going Perhaps I'm the one who's stereotyping now. Just the perception I'm getting.
Skennen Peace.
Kwiter:
I think you will find that the majority opinion regarding video/distance learning is that it is a waste of time. This opinion is shared by both instructors with schools, and those who are not instructors, such as myself.
CAN one learn from a video? Yes. But those with the greatest potential to learn the most successfully from a video are also those who are already highly experienced with the martial arts, and are therefor those who have the least need to learn from a video. In short, their training and skills are already solid, and whatever they may learn from a video is probably stuff they don't have a real need for.
CAN a
beginner learn from a video? Yes, but the resulting knowledge and skills gained from video learning alone are all but guaranteed to be very poor. Is this better than nothing? Maybe. The problem is, one might learn just enough from a video to get a false sense of security in thinking that he is developing useful skills. This might be just enough to get yourself killed in a real confrontation.
You have indicated several times in your postings that your daughters are training in a real kenpo school, under instructors who are not affiliated with Mr. Roman. You indicated that you purchased the videos to give your daughters some guidance in practicing outside the dojo, and you were inclined to purchase from Mr. Roman because of a shared Native American heritage (different tribal affiliations aside). These are motivations that I have the utmost respect for.
However, as I stated in another thread, I think your intentions, however nobly motiviated, are misguided. Your daughters definitely need to train outside the dojo, or their development will be much slower and ultimately much more limited. Martial arts are like that: they need constant attention and training, or your skills start to slip and you start to forget things. But using videos, especially videos not made by your daughters instructors, is not the best way for them to do this. They should instead focus their efforts on practicing what they have learned from their instructor. As they learn more, they will have more to practice. Everything they learn should continue to be practiced. New material should not replace old material, but instead should be ADDED to old material. They can keep a notebook to help them remember things, until the knowledge is deeply ingrained and they won't forget it.
While Mr. Roman claims to practice and teach Ed Parker's kenpo, that DOES NOT mean what he teaches will be identical to what your daughters are learning. Many people studied under Mr. Parker, over a period of many years. As Mr. Parker constantly revised his system, he taught things differently to different people, depending on WHEN that person studied with him. What his earliest students, those who studied with him in the 1950s and 1960s, teach is quite different from what his latest students, those who were with him in the 1980s are teaching.
Giving your daughters videos made by a different source from their instructor will just confuse them. Video instruction is a bad idea to begin with, and these particular circumstances are more likely to create confusion for your daughters then aid their training.
With regard to Mr. Roman's specific program, I do not know him and cannot vouche for his skills one way or the other. If he claims to be good, I am willing to believe him until I meet him and can then judge for myself. However, the information posted on his website raises many serious red flags. It appears to me that he is very Profit-Motivated, and is willing to sell rank and status for a large sum of money. In my opinion, this is serious enough to suggest that you stear clear of him.
Hope this helps.
Michael
