Hello, The word Secrets means to hide something. NO instructor should hide anything in there teachings.
Is there such a thing as secret technique? Only taught to those who are ready or black belt? "UM"
When I first started instructing, I told my students everything I knew from the day they started... which overloaded them so thoroughly that many of them left. Now, I instruct in a sequence, a predetermined order, and give new concepts to students as quickly as they are ready for them. Is this keeping secrets? Not by the definition you're using... but perhaps by this
one:
1 a : kept from knowledge or view
: [SIZE=-1]HIDDEN[/SIZE] b : marked by the habit of discretion
: [SIZE=-1]CLOSEMOUTHED[/SIZE] c : working with hidden aims or methods
: [SIZE=-1]UNDERCOVER[/SIZE] <a
secret agent>
d : not acknowledged
: [SIZE=-1]UNAVOWED[/SIZE] <a
secret bride>
e : conducted in secret <a
secret trial>
Especially parts b and c; maybe a as well... and I don't see any problem with it. I see it as being akin to what I do when I teach math: I teach counting before I teach addition, I teach addition before I teach multiplication, I teach operations with whole numbers before I teach operations with decimals or fractions - is that keeping secrets? No - it's giving students a foundation in the basics that they can build on before giving them more detailed and/or complex concepts. I teach reading the same way: first students learn basic sound/letter correspondence, then short words, easy sentences, then longer words and more complex sentences, and so on. If I gave students calculus or an encyclopedia to read from day one, how many would be successful? But by the above argument - that withholding any information is keeping secrets - then I am keeping secrets from my math and reading students.
When I teach TKD, I teach stances before I teach kicks, to give students a base from which to kick; I teach techniques individually and in combinations in line drills before I teach patterns - and I see this the same way, that I am giving the students the basics they need to learn more. IMO, that's not keeping secrets - it's good instructional practice, to give students the basics on which to build, and then continue to add more information as they go. The basic stances and techniques are analogous to the letters; the small combinations of techniques in line drills are analogous to short words; patterns are long sentences (at the beginning) and paragraphs as they get more difficult. Am I keeping secrets from them? I really don't think so - I'm just taking them through the information in a reasonable progression.
