That's the message from society in general. They don't need to visit the McDojo to learn that, they are bombarded with it from their schools, the media, and most of their parents.
I disagree. Parents? Some. Discussions about parents or parenting is, IMO, a little too abstract. There are SO many things that go into parenting, whether it's age, economics, backgrounds, religion, personality. Even interest. Some people are better parents than others. So, I will agree that many parents suck. But, I'd also argue that many don't suck. Some parents put their kids into programs expecting constant validation, and those programs are McDojos or the like.
Schools? Not very much in my experience. Maybe I've been particularly lucky with good public schools, but kids who work hard get A's and get into honors classes. This leads to AP classes and college credit. It's a logical progression. Kids who don't get C's, get a basic education and while they graduate, they aren't rewarded with an undeserved head start. Their lack of reward points directly to their lack of performance. Do many kids fail classes? Probably not, but that by no means suggests that they're doing well.
The media? Certainly, but no more now than when I was a kid. Media is ultimately about selling something, whether it's a product, a show or a brand. It's no different with adults, and a company will say literally whatever it needs to in order to sound more appealing to a target audience.
But all of this is completely beside the point.
Probably, but the kids at the McDojo are not the ones that are interested in joining band, nor are they any of the 10 kids out of 4000 who are in the chess club. These are all those kids whose parents sign them up for the soccer league (yep, the one that gives everybody a trophy and doesn't have playoffs any more) to try and get them out of the house. It's also something the parents can do with their kids that doesn't require them to seriously study martial arts.
Other examples of programs that don't typically teach kids a false sense of entitlement are any little league sport, JROTC or the Boy Scouts of America. In little league, you learn practical skills, and if you continue past the pee wee stages of little league, your ability to progress past the open leagues into "select" leagues depends on your talent, your aptitude and your willingness to work hard. You don't get "promoted" to a more advanced league unless you earn it. That, in my opinion, is a quality life lesson that belies the entire premise of the speech above.
Same goes for the BSoA. I've never been a Boy Scout, but my understanding is that the criteria for earning a merit badge is clear and very few scouts achieve Eagle Scout.
Again, the point isn't that the sense of entitlement exists. It does. I just believe that it's grossly overstated, and I also believe that it's funny and ironic to me that it comes up on a martial arts forum when I believe that McDojos are among the worst for promoting a false sense of accomplishment and entitlement in our Nation's children.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning any of the purchased belts, phony certificates, or memberships in the "World Soke Council" that can be found at "Strip Mall TKD of America". I just don't believe that the belt mill McDojo is any danger to real martial arts, as so many seem to think.
"Real martial arts?" I don't think that the McDojo is a "threat" to "real martial arts." I don't even know where that's coming from. I do see that the strip mall TKD or Krotty schools use as a marketing tool false accomplishment and empty praise, and I think that it's entirely possible for a child to be
less capable of defending himself after attaining a black belt in TKD than he was before he ever stepped into the McDojang.
I can think of a bunch of things more destructive ... sitting on the couch watching TV, or playing video games, or surfing the internet, or any of a hundred sedentary things that kids do to occupy themselves these days. The vast majority of kids martial arts schools are simply a way to get the kids some exercise. They're kids after all, and very few of them will go on to have, or need, serious careers in the martial arts. They don't really need anything other than little practical skill and silly rewards that keep them interested.
}. It's a restating of the "nobody is average" idea I think. It is not yourself that is special, everyone is special. It's an idea that I have an easier time accepting as philosophy than in reality mind you given some of the brain-dead wastes-of-space I've encountered :lol:.
