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Tez3

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Wow some right nobs on this thread. Sounds like they have there teachers name tattooed on their ***

As far as I know we have no aristocracy on this thread.... nobs are posh people, now, assuming you are being insulting, the word you want is knobs. No, they aren't knobs, this is people having full and frank discussions. :rolleyes:
 

CB Jones

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I tried to start a cult once....called it Jonestown....for whatever reason couldn't find anyone willing to join.
 

JowGaWolf

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Could it be that since you got your black belt you are now a representative of that school.

And the instructor feels it is important that you learn how to teach while you are under his supervision since you now represent his dojo.

When that instructor promoted you he in essence vouched for you and now his name is forever attached to you. So now he has a vested interest in you and maybe he wants to see how you do in an instructing role.
This only matters to people who have connection with the school. He hasn't bonded with his school so none of this matters. His bond doesn't extend beyond being a customer. To be honest. He wouldn't be a good teacher or representative of the school because he has no bond beyond being a customer.
 

drop bear

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I've seen the same thing happen in MMA. A guy gets a fight or two then he's advertised as an instructor who is expected to teach as well as train. fine if he wants to and doesn't have to pay but not if he doesn't want to or actually doesn't know how to teach....it's not a natural talent every martial artist has. Most people have to be taught how to teach.

I agree.

I was being funny.
 

drop bear

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Agreed there's absolutely 0 way you can learn 154 techniques, 7 forms, 11 sets plus all the basics and get them all to get to a good level in 3 years. It's physically impossible I don't care who you are

You can learn heart surgery in that time.

Ok. I looked that up. 4 to 16 years.
 

Steve

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As far as I know we have no aristocracy on this thread.... nobs are posh people, now, assuming you are being insulting, the word you want is knobs. No, they aren't knobs, this is people having full and frank discussions. :rolleyes:
What is one doing when they hob a nob? How many nobs have you guys hobbed?
 

morlock

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Stop showing up regularly. Make up a work excuse. If they can't rely on you to show. They can't rely on you to teach.
That's only avoiding the problem. I find it is always better to deal with problems with other people in a direct, honest, and respectful manner.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk
 

jks9199

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Funny thing is people are assuming I was angry about it. I wasn't angry at my instructor I was frustrated at the situation but not angry. No ones perfect we all make mistakes and do things wrong. Every single person no matter from Bruce lee, to ed Parker to the Gracie's no ones a perfect instructor. All I was doing here was stating my facts. I have a ton of respect for my instructor as a martial artist and as a person but that doesn't mean I won't say if I think he's doing things wrong which is all this was

I'm not sure why, but most of your posts on this forum come off angrily to me, even when it's obvious that you're not.

Something important to remember about communication... The vast majority of human communication is NOT verbal -- but the internet is almost entirely verbal. This leads to lots of miscommunication and misunderstood tones. Think about how many different things your significant other can mean with the word "Fine"... ranging from "don't you dare unless you want to die!" to "Hell, yeah!" and anything in between and sideways of that... I personally find it's often helpful to sort of assume that I missed the tone rather than read insult or anger or annoyance.

Getting back on topic... I'm glad everything worked out. Tony covered a lot of things in a post above that I agree with. There are easily two, probably more, primary approaches to teaching martial arts. One is commercial; I'll pick on the tae kwon do community because they've excelled in my region at it. They offer all sorts of services (school drop off and pick up, thinly disguised day care, etc.) and have a very effective commercial footing. Cool. Some of them also manage to keep costs down by having "student teachers" paying for the privilege of leading classes as "instructor training." The worst examples really abuse this sort of thing... and probably are pushing the boundaries of legality and morality in taking advantage of their student "teachers."

The other approach is the club/family/teaching for the love of the art. Here, the club is more than a commercial establishment; Bill's posts talk about it well. It may stay financially solvent, but many run at a loss. (I know my club does!) Students, as part of the school community, are more or less expected to contribute in various ways. One may run the club's website; another handle rent for the training hall, and so on. Students here may well teach -- and be expected to teach classes depending on how many classes there are. It's a different approach than the commercial schools and does run risk of different forms of abuse -- including cultish concerns.

And I'm sure there's a lot of room for different balances between these two... or things I haven't even thought of. (Like a really religious setting...)

In any case, a lot of problems are able to be solved or prevented with good communication between students and the instructor. If everyone is on the same page about expectations, nobody gets frustrated or feeling like they're being taking advantage of.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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Something important to remember about communication... The vast majority of human communication is NOT verbal -- but the internet is almost entirely verbal. This leads to lots of miscommunication and misunderstood tones. Think about how many different things your significant other can mean with the word "Fine"... ranging from "don't you dare unless you want to die!" to "Hell, yeah!" and anything in between and sideways of that... I personally find it's often helpful to sort of assume that I missed the tone rather than read insult or anger or annoyance.
Absolutely, that's why I was pointing out the tone I got from them. I highly doubt he is walking around all the time super angrily (although it's possible). But something about his posts, it may be the content, it may be his writing style, I don't know, come off angry to me, and if it's happening to me it's likely happening to others too.
 

Mark Lynn

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Regarding the CI taking time out of training the higher dan guys, it seems more of a scheduling problem to me.

I don't agree lower dan ranks should teach beginners and intermediates so that the CI can teach the higher ranks. I think the CI should teach all levels. I'm not saying he/she should teach every single class, but he/she should teach every level and give them just as much attention as each other.

If he/she wants time to focus on the higher ranks, make a higher ranks only class. If there's genuinely too many students to be able to do this and no flexibility in the schedule, then he's in over his head and he should stop taking in new students.

I've seen it before. Some teachers think teaching lower ranks is beneath them; they just want to teach advanced students. Nonsense. People join to learn from the CI. There's no problem with assistants teaching lower ranks, but the CI must teach them too. Even Tadashi Nakamura (of Kyokushin fame and founder of Seido Juku) teaches white belt classes and colored belt classes regularly. And he gives them just as much attention as he does anyone else. He's not the only one who teaches them, but he's on the schedule so students know exactly when if they so choose. And his dojo is huge.

The most important rank is white belt; no one has gone on to become a black belt or any other rank without being a white belt first. If a CI can't make time for them, he/she should reevaluate why he's doing what he/she's doing.

I'm sure many will disagree. I'm sure many will say there's not enough time in the day. To that I say work the schedule out.

JR 137

I understand your point here and I agree it's why I said.
"Now in an earlier post in another thread you mentioned that your instructor was a 7th dan, so perhaps this is what is going on." Not that I agreed with this position but perhaps it was going on. Frankly I was a bit confused by the OP's reason for bringing this out in public instead of simply talking to the instructor, so I figured I'd post another view point of what might be happening.

I am the CI at my school and often times I take the beginners; kids and adults over the more senior students instruction wise to allow them to work together while I work with the beginner because they are really my responsibility. I also try and foster the community spirit by having the kids or anyone who is senior help out and instruct (even if it is only leading exercises) those who are junior to them. GM Remy Presas use to tell us that we were to find someone to teach because it helped us learn the material better, and i encourage that teaching amongst my students. I do make a small profit at my school (enough to pay my house payment each month) and I teach the vast majority of my classes each week (13-15 classes). I have a couple of Black belts who don't pay but help out in class and cover a class if I have to miss, then I also have some that still pay and again occasionally cover a class for me.

However if one of my black belts came to me and said I don't want to teach ever, I just want to work with the senior belts, and it's all about the money etc. etc. Then I would charge them more, because it takes more to teach the higher ranks than the juniors, it's more wear and tear on equipment, more chance of getting hurt, more time spent focused on them then the other students etc. etc.

Although I believe in this situation Head Hunter could have simply talked with his CI and got things settled, which it sounds like he did.
 
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