I agree that it's about culture and environment. But culture and environment are self selecting. Meaning if I wanted an activity to do with my 8 yo son, I could join TKD and in some schools we could train in the same class. Great benefit for families. However an individual looking for intense self defense or full contact would not be interested in joining. The end result speaks for itself. TkD schools are maybe 90 % kids. MMA is maybe 90% adults. And those that want to get really good are highly selective in which school they attend. An Olympic level athlete will not join the school down the street. The results for the average student are independent from curriculum or quality of instruction. I've said before that I truly belive that the quality of your students is dependent on the quality level of your top 2 or 3 students. If you can't attract high level athletes and only attract the average family, you will have a thriving buisness but people that want more, like the OP will find that school a waste of time.
I have been going through some of my older post in the hopes to regenerate some conversation.
We run a lot of classes but our 'primary' classes are the three evening classes. The first is kids only, the second is mixed age, and the third is adults only. People can mix and match as desired for up to 3-hours of training (each class is 1-1/2 hours).
How can a person's results be independent of the curriculum or instructor? Junk in, junk out is a Very true statement.
Absolutely, people feed off of other people. This is especially true when we are talking about excellence or exceptional people. Some people are simply prodigies and need little to not incentive. Others have the potential but have to be motivated to squeeze it out. Having expectation present in class really sets a tone, and creates an environment of higher performance. This is VERY different from creating competition between students. This is the delicate a school owner/instructor has to create that allows less competitive and more competitive people to co-inside in the same class.
For our students we have a Hard rule that they practice and learn the whole curriculum. While there is a 'standard format' for progress it is not a hard rule. For example, if a 1st Dan is really good and wants to train purely in competition classes and go to circuit events for a year, no harm, no foul. Conversely, if a person wants to stay on our normal class program and never take competition classes, no harm no foul.
I largely agree with you as far as elite level competitors go. But that is a small sector of most schools. And it takes a completely different program to keep them fed and to get ready for competition. We have a lot of AAU and WT competitors in our competition classes. Some come from adjoining states to train and get ready. Conversely, people from our regular classes will briefly attend these classes leading up to local tournaments sometimes. Naturally, their results and expectations are different. It takes having the facilities and manpower to provide this offering.
In short, I fully disagree with your last statement.
Let the debate begin!!!
