tardiness of students

[rachel]

I'd like to hear how your school handles tardiness. Adult classes and especially childrens classes. Do you have a cut off time where they will not be allowed in or do you let them wander in 10-15 minutes late? Are parents required to stay on the premises while their children attend classes or do most parents just drop their children at the door and leave? Any comments would be greatly appreciated especially from owner/instructors. Thanks a lot.

 

[Cthulhu]

When I trained briefly in the college's TKD program, the instructor had tardy students do 10 or 25 knuckle pushups and then wait with hand raised off the mat until given permission to join the class.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help at all for kids who are late because their parents are running behind.

Cthulhu

 

[pknox]

Could we make the parents do the pushups?

 

[OULobo]

My old Aikido instructor used to make us wait on the mat edge until we were agknowleged. We had to sit in seiza the whole time and she would wait until our legs were completely numb and then put us through a hard warm up. Not fun or easy.

 

[someguy]

100 push-ups should do maybe more if they are really late. Unless of course they have a good reason.

 

[lvwhitebir]

I don't currently punish students for being late. It's a tough issue. On the one hand, the parents are usually responsible for the kids running late, so punishing them won't help the situation. Also, making the students perform some punishment is likely to make them not come in at all if they're running late. I'd rather have them train, myself.

A better way would be to make the beginning of the class fun enough that they won't *want* to be late.

I have a small kids program, but most of the parents leave while their kids are in class. Making them stay would be difficult since they have other kids to attend to or they have errands that they have to run. I'd be interested in ideas on how to get the parents involved enough that they would want to stay.

WhiteBirch

 

[someguy]

I'd be interested in ideas on how to get the parents involved enough that they would want to stay.

Get them to do the martial arts.
THen you can give them the whole load of push ups for being late.
Lets see 1 parent with 5 kids= 6 people
6*100= 600 push ups
I think thhey will be ontime

 

[Old Fat Kenpoka]

I've seen a wide variation on this.

In my Kenpo school: late students were required to stand at attention at the end of the mat and wait for the instructor to recognize them. Usually we didn't keep students waiting. Occassionally we would make them wait until we finished the current exercise or drill. Sometimes we would require them to drop and do 20 pushups. Never 100 pushups: that is just plain cruel.

In my current Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school, lateness is the norm. It is really weird. Day classes "start" at 11. I leave my house at 11 and am dressed and on the mat around 11:20. I am almost always the first one there! People trickle in until about noon. After class, people continue to train as long as they want -- or until the instructor kicks us out of the building. Evening classes are a little better, but not much. I am usually dressed and on the mat when class is supposed to start and I am often the first one there again! Warm ups happen before class "officially" starts (with the Brazilian equivalent of the bow-in). Some people skip the warm ups entirely. This is usually because they are late from work, nursing an injury, or because they have already done the morning class or are going to stay for the boxing class afterword. Other than the lateness, the training attitude at the BJJ school is very very intense and all the guys are first-class martial artists.

 

[Jay Bell]

*chuckle* This, to me, is all pretty silly. We aren't in the military, folks...and newsflash, people have lives.

If I get off of work at 6pm and it takes an hour and 10 minutes to drive to class from work...is there an issue? Does this person get punished?

If my daughter falls and skins her knee that I have to doctor, smooch and make better, making me late....does I get the pushup treatment there as well?

I think folks are overstepping their bounds. Control? Ego? I can hear the echos of "it's a respect issue" chanting now. If only that were true...

 

[MartialArtsChic]

I don't know about the kids classes where I'm at, but in the night adult classes, if someone is late, then all they do is ask for permission to enter class. It's never more then 3 min. into start of class anyway usually. There isn't any one person or anything that is continually late. As the saying goes: "***** Happens", people will be late at times.

 

[someguy]

People who are late most all the time usually have a reason like they cant be there at the proper time due to work. It ssure beats them not being there.

 

[theletch1]

At my old kenpo school if you were late you simply did a standing bow at the edge of the mat, walked to the changing room being careful not to walk between the instructor and the class, changed did a warm-up on your own and joined in when there was a break in the action. In my aikido school I've only seen a couple people show up late and they sat in the waiting area until the beginning of the second adult class of the evening. The "official" policy at our dojo is simply sit seiza at the entrance to the mat and wait to be given permission to join the class to train. No punishment but I don't think that's really necessary. Folks have lives that tend to deliver a sneak attack now and then. I've never seen anyone intentionally be late just to be disrespectful. If some one is continually late I think the instructor should ask if it's a work schedule conflict or something else. If they are continually late just because they can't get off their butts and get motivated then that is a different thing than not getting off work until 20 minutes before class and having a 30 minute drive to get there.

 

[kenpo12]

If someone is late they must stand at the edge of the mat until acknowledged by the instructor and bowed in.
Personally I think it's just plain disrespectful if people make a constant habit out of being late but that's just me.

 

[Brother John]

1. For kids; talk to the parents. Takes diplomacy but forthrightness. I won't punish the kid for their parents problems, they already pay by missing what they do and being singled out as the "always late" kid.

2. Adults: The punishment is in what they miss, just like the kids. They pay the same, their knowledge won't always keep up with the rest of the class, they won't get the same intensity of workout that the other 'prompt' students do... They punish themselves.

Your Brother
John

PS: I can't talk. When I was a kid I peddled my bike 6 miles to the Dojo... sometimes late, but my instructor understood.
Heck, if you ask my wife she'd tell you... I was born a day late and it's not gotten better yet. :shrug:

 

[Franc0]

I agree with Jay. People who are late for class pretty much punish themselves anyway, in that they miss out on what could be an important portion of training.
However, when it comes to promotion days (especially for instructors) thats another story. Since I only do promotions twice a year, I make it a point to be there on time, or don't show at all.
I recently held a promotion where one of my guys who was ready to be promoted to Instructor level showed up about 30 mins late. As he walked in I told him to stop right there. I picked up the certificate that wouldve been presented to him, ripped it in half and told him to come back when he could show up on time. At the very next class he showed up half an hour early. I told him that, regardless of the fact that standards need to be kept, especially for Instructors, I felt very bad about what I had to do. He told me that he understood fully, and expected that to happen. He also said if I had let him slide, it would have set a bad example for the students.

 

[rachel]

Thanks for all your comments.

 

[RCastillo]

I frown on it, I will say something about it, but not sure if it's my job to punish people. I have no interest in running other peoples lives. At any rate, it'll catch up with them anyway.:asian:

 

[Reprobate]

Infrequent late arrivals wait in seiza until acknowledged by the instructor. After acknowledgment they bow and join the class.
Their punishment is that they miss part of the class - and the warm-up. I advice late students who missed the entire warming up to do a warming up before joining the class - to avoid injury.

Tardy students [frequently late] are asked for their reasons [after class]. If their explanation is reasonable, they are allowed to be late, but are adviced to try to disturb the class as little as possible.
If their explanation is vague [i.e. habitual tardiness], I advice them to get a watch with an alarm clock.

As for punishment - if you have problems maintaining discipline, single out the source and make them take ukemi at full force until they hyperventilate...

 

[Shinzu]

i try my hardest no to be late. it sends a message to the instructor and a bad example of your responsibilities. certain circumstances are unevoidabel though.

usually i shoot the kid a look when they are late, but most of the times it is the parents who need to wise up. if you sign your kid up for martial arts, just like any other after school program, you need to take the responsibility as a parent to see that your kids are on time.

 

[D.Cobb]

If we are late to class, we just wait at attention at the door until we are acknowledged, and then we just bow in. The main offender at our school is Senseii so we just let him get away with it.

--Dave
:asian: