It is for both reasons. The head instructor typically does not have the time to personally teach the basics to each incoming student, and given that most students quit fairly early on, it is wasted effort if he or she does. Student instructors hone their skills by assisting with instruction (under supervision of course) and beginners get the basics, which can be taught by anyone who has a year's experience I would think.
I tried to make this the last quote, but messed that up. But I'll save it for last.
I think this is very arbitrary. There are guys who have trained for 10 years I wouldn't want teaching a class. And conversely, some guys with a year or two who are great. Tenure is only one factor in determining whether someone is credible or not.
I couldn't agree more. My wife is as knowledgeable a Martial Artist as I've ever met, has choked out more guys training than I have, and used to kick and punch for money. But she can't teach worth a damn. Not even a little bit.
for the MT posters,
going by what Bill has said Isshin-Ryu is a traditional style dojo. the culture is one where the head instructor mainly gives instruction only to the most senior students and the kohai students have to rely on instruction from the sempai and senior students. this culture is something many here may not like or agree with but it is what it is.
we have to remember this sensei, sempai, kohai relationship is completely foreign to most of us. so the "guy" is operating from a place of total ignorance. that kind of dojo dynamic is something that for some is learnt through osmosis and for some it needs to be spelled out and specifically stated. if it not addressed then the student who is having problems is doomed for failure at no real fault of his own.
the fact that the "guy" went to the sensei and complained about her treatment of him shows that he does not see her as an instructor but someone who is treating him badly and who he thinks has an over inflated ego, and as you say "over stepping her bounds"
Loved all your posts on this subject.
Some of this is, I think, a gender thing. In my experience, there's a certain percentage of adult male students who have a hard time accepting that a woman knows more about martial arts than they do, even if the woman has been training in that art for years and the guy's experience consists entirely of watching Bruce Lee movies. Honestly, the only remedy I've found to that is to knock those guys around until they either learn some respect or quit.
If you could see the smile on my face...
To Bill's point, which I always like..
This is an important point to me. There were two times in a students career that I was going to be in front of them, the other three bajjillion times I taught them didn't matter. One was if they made Black BeIt. Nobody else was presenting them that belt. And since so few actually made it, it was a very big deal. The other time was their very first class in the Dojo.
I always taught that first class, always. I wanted students, each and every one that ever bowed in, to know exactly what was what. I don't care if it was five twelve year old Boy Scouts, five Hells Angels, five hookers or five cops. Each and every one was going to know the rules, dojo etiquette, what we were going to do and what was expected of them. And every initial class was free. Not as a come on, just take class so you see if you're going to like it here. I would never let anyone other than a senior instructor teach that class, and only if I was on the road for an extended time. That first class is important, it sets the tone for what a person's entire Martial career might or might not be. And in that first class, stance and position is explained, trained and practiced. I believe it to be very important, very specific and very detail orientated. Stance and position are our foundation. I want to teach that first class.
Now....on the other side of that coin, if I had a beginner teaching someone something, which wouldn't happen but for the sake of conversation let's say it did, there's no way,
no damn way, I'm not watching what goes on - and if the student walked away from whoever was helping him, that student would answer to me, on the spot, immediately.
And it usually only has to happen once or twice before word spreads like wildfire. Especially in a city Dojo. If you run a dojo, how and what you make that dojo is entirely up to you. Your words matter. But your actions matter even more.
Same thing when you teach DT to in-service cops you've never met before. They'll be guys with attitudes. Guys who question who this guy is, because he don't look like much. And there's always that one guy. Always. With cops you are more friendly, light hearted - then you use them as your Uke, take em down hard, lock em, and make them speak in tongues, all the while still being light hearted and friendly because you always want them to be able to save face afterwards. Sometimes you really have to scare the sheet out of them, but in a nice way. You talk with them afterwards, tell them why you had to smoke them, because it was the only way they'd listen and trust you. And they get it. You kind of like getting one of those guys every decade or so.
With cops, you only need to do it once. The word spreading wildfire is like an inferno with cops. Nobody talks more to each other than cops, especially about other cops.
And on the other side of that coin, which is germane to this thread, I started teaching after three whole months of training. Can you even imagine that, three fricken' months? Not because I knew what I was teaching, I didn't have a clue, but because I had better communication skills than our instructor. He'd make me teach them a class after he did, doing the exact same thing. Kind of translating what he was trying to get across. Two of those students I had in my first year still train under me today, not often because we're far apart now, but they haven't left after all these years. And they're both better Martial Artists than I am. But, then, hey, they did have a better teacher than I did.
